A Radical's Nut

First published by Bulatlat.com

In his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA), did President Marcos Jr. just lay the groundwork for the legacy he wants to build as he begins the second half of his presidency? If this is the game plan of the Marcos Jr. regime, it has some serious problems.

In the closing parts of his SONA, Marcos Jr. delivered what are perhaps the most explosive and striking sound bytes of his speech. That he uttered it towards the end and enunciated it the way he did was meant to draw everyone’s attention to the message: the Marcos Jr. regime is against corruption and for good governance.

Suppose Marcos Jr. aims to capture public imagination and popular support for his anti-corruption rhetoric. In that case, he has found the perfect target – the flooding brought about by a string of typhoons and monsoon rains just days before his SONA. 

“Kitang-kita ko na maraming proyekto para sa flood control ay palpak at gumuho at ‘yung iba guni-guni lang. Huwag na po tayong magkunwari. Alam naman ng buong madla na nagkaka-racket sa mga proyekto”, the President said in his speech.

Then he delivered the lines that sparked off chants of “BBM!” across the congressional hall: “Kaya sa mga nakikipagsabwatan upang kunin ang pondo ng bayan at nakawin ang kinabukasan ng ating mga mamamayan, mahiya naman kayo sa inyong kapwa Pilipino! Mahiya naman kayo sa mga kabahayan nating naanod o nalubog sa mga pagbaha! Mahiya naman kayo lalo sa mga anak natin na magmamana sa mga utang na ginawa ninyo, na binulsa niyo lang ang pera.”

These are compelling words from the country’s most powerful man. In a vacuum, they deserve our applause and support. However, when considering the broader context, we cannot miss the irony and contradictions that pervade Marcos Jr.’s declaration.

The most obvious irony is that the flood control projects are his initiatives under the Build Better More infrastructure program, and that some of the public officials involved in the corruption behind the defective projects are the same ones who are applauding the President enthusiastically in the plenary hall. According to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the Marcos Jr. administration has built around 9,856 flood control projects between June 2022 and May 2025. Approximately 5,700 projects are still ongoing and are expected to be completed by 2026. Between 2023 and 2025, the Marcos Jr. government has allocated a substantial P700 billion for these flood control projects in the national budget.

While individual public officials involved should be held liable, the President himself must account for how hundreds of billions of pesos in public money were wasted over flawed projects that failed to mitigate the massive impacts of floods on people’s lives and livelihoods. Under Marcos Jr., floods and storms have resulted in economic losses of P40 to P50 billion and affected or displaced 15 to 18 million Filipinos. Why did these flood control projects continue – almost ten thousand completed midway through his term – when Marcos Jr. knew all along that “kickback, initiative, errata, SOP, and for the boys” are prevalent under his Build Better More program?

However, the bigger contradiction is his attitude towards the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, which did not even merit a mention in his SONA, despite his bold statements against corruption and the misuse of public funds. How can Marcos Jr. even intend to build his legacy as a torchbearer of good governance when he dismissed as a “waste of time” the people’s efforts to make VP Duterte accountable for malversation and betrayal of public trust over P612.5 million in confidential funds? The defective flood control projects are as scandalous as Duterte’s anomalous spending of confidential funds, which at one point reached P125 million in just 11 days. 

Malacañang’s political strategists may be considering building an anti-corruption narrative as the foundation of Marcos Jr.’s legacy, which would provide a contrast to VP Duterte in the context of the 2028 presidential elections. Perhaps they surmise that it gives the Marcos Jr. faction and its candidate in the upcoming presidential derby the best leverage against the Vice President and the Duterte clique in the never-ending struggle of the elites for control over political power. They could never be more wrong.   

Marcos Jr. lacks both the moral ascendancy and the track record to establish himself as a champion against corruption and abuse of power. The Marcos family’s political comeback and the first three years of Marcos Jr.’s regime did not redeem their family from the disrepute of massive corruption and abuse. Let us not forget that the Marcoses amassed USD 5 to 10 billion in ill-gotten wealth through plunder, kickbacks, and misuse of government funds during the Marcos Sr. dictatorship. Until today, USD 1.5 to 6.5 billion remains unrecovered, tied up in legal disputes or hidden in offshore accounts. VP Duterte’s fraudulent use of hundreds of millions of confidential funds and the hundreds of billions squandered in flood control projects are peanuts compared to what Marcos Jr. and his family owe to the Filipino people.

As signaled by his fourth SONA, Marcos Jr. may be planning to craft his regime’s legacy in the second half of his term. Like all previous trapo Presidents, Marcos Jr. wants to maintain the dominant position of his clique within the political elite and perpetuate the Marcos political dynasty with his presidency’s legacy. But the regime’s dilemma is that there is no foundation beneficial to the people on which Marcos Jr. could build and cement his legacy. Not good governance, not genuine economic development, not human rights, not independent foreign policy. 

In the coming weeks, the probe into flood control projects that the President ordered in his SONA may dominate the headlines. Some public officials—most likely minor figures with little significance in the hierarchy of the Marcos political faction—may be named, dismissed, and charged. The Malacañang propaganda machine will certainly milk this, peddling the legacy-building image of a President waging a battle against corruption. But this will be hollow. The people will not be deceived. ###