Thousands protest in Philippines against flood control fraud

MANILA, Philippines: Thousands marched in the Philippine capital on Sunday, demanding jail time for scores of officials, lawmakers and construction firm owners accused of pocketing billions of taxpayer dollars in a sweeping corruption scandal.

Rage over so-called ghost flood-control projects has been mounting for months in the archipelago country of 116 million, where entire towns have been buried in floodwaters driven by powerful typhoons in recent months.

President Ferdinand Marcos has seen friend and foe alike, including a congressman cousin, swept up in the scandal since he made the widespread fraud the centrepiece of a July national address.

On Sunday, marchers faced with barbed wire-wrapped barricades blocking their route to the presidential palace chanted “Police! Protectors of the corrupt!” as riot police pounded on their shields in response.

The protesters, who had gathered earlier at Manila’s Luneta Park, carried a large effigy that merged Marcos and his chief political rival, Vice President Sara Duterte, into a two-headed crocodile representing corruption.

About 10 kilometres (six miles) away, another group of demonstrators called for corrupt officials to be “put in jail now” as they marched along the thoroughfare known as EDSA, site of the People Power Movement that helped oust Marcos’s father from power in 1986.

According to official crowd-size estimates, fewer than 10,000 people took to the streets, while more than 17,000 police officers were deployed.

The first arrests in connection with the scandal — eight members of the country’s Department of Public Works and Highways — were announced just days ago, with the government promising that “big fish are coming soon”.

Mervin Toquero of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines told AFP he was dissatisfied.

“It’s impossible that that corruption happened without the knowledge of the higher officials,” the 54-year-old said at Luneta. “(They) must be accountable too.”

“There (are) people who died because of the corruption that is happening,” 20-year-old drag performer Jessie Wanaluvmi J told AFP before her scheduled performance.

Azon Tobiano, 68, who brought her granddaughter with her, said she had traveled to the park after seeing a call to action on social media.

“I really hope that justice will be served. I hope the president will be resolute to put in jail those accountable, whether it’s his relatives or senators,” she said.

The Philippines has a long history of scandals involving public funds, in which high-ranking politicians found guilty of corruption have typically escaped serious jail time.

At the EDSA gathering, 23-year-old Cuitlauzina Cerbito told AFP the issues were “systemic”.

“In order to change these things, it can’t be one person doing actions. It has to be all of us together,” she said.