Thousands in Philippines protest corruption, demand return of stolen funds

Authors: The Associated Press

Publisher:

NPR

Published: 12/1/2025

Language:English

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Taylor

Good morning 4vfvc6cy9p, I'm Taylor, and this is Goose Pod for you. Today is Monday, December 08th.

Holly

And I'm Holly. We are here to discuss the thousands in the Philippines protesting corruption and demanding the return of stolen funds.

Taylor

That's right. Over the weekend, Manila became the epicenter of massive public outrage. Thousands of people, from church leaders to activist groups, took to the streets. They're calling for the immediate prosecution of top officials tangled in a huge corruption scandal.

Holly

It’s absolutely stunning to see. The core of the issue seems to be these flood control projects that were either poorly built, defective, or in some cases, didn't even exist. The public’s money was just gone, and the country is left vulnerable.

Taylor

Exactly. This isn't just about money; it’s about public safety. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is now in a very tough spot, trying to manage this wave of anger. Protesters even destroyed an effigy of him, which is a very powerful, symbolic act of frustration.

Holly

And there are some signs of movement, aren't there? I read that one former engineer, Henry Alcantara, actually returned 1.9 million dollars in kickbacks he received. How extraordinary that his conscience, or perhaps the pressure, led him to do that.

Taylor

It’s a start, but it's a drop in the bucket. Authorities have frozen over 200 million dollars in assets from various suspects. But the protesters' message is clear, captured on a shirt one of them wore: 'No mercy for the greedy.' They want systemic change.

Holly

That message is so powerful. A Catholic priest, Reverend Flavie Villanueva, said that stealing money is a crime, but taking away dignity and lives are sins against God. It elevates the conversation from simple theft to a profound moral crisis for the nation.

Taylor

It really does. This isn't just a political issue; it's a fight for the country's soul. The scale of these protests, involving so many different parts of society, shows a unified demand for accountability that the government simply cannot ignore. The pressure is on.

Taylor

And to truly understand this level of outrage, you have to look back. Corruption in the Philippines isn't a new phenomenon; it has incredibly deep roots, stretching all the way back to the Spanish colonial period. It’s been a persistent, almost generational, struggle.

Holly

How absolutely tragic. So this isn't just one scandal, but rather the boiling over of years of frustration? It seems to have woven itself into the fabric of many institutions, from the police to the judicial system, making it so difficult to address.

Taylor

Precisely. For a long time, there was a sense of tolerance for what was seen as 'traditional politics.' A politician was expected to engage in patronage. But that narrative began to shift dramatically during the era of the current president's father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

Holly

Oh, of course, the Marcos family name is infamous for that. The sheer scale of their alleged plunder, estimated to be between 5 and 10 billion dollars, is just mind-boggling. That kind of wealth, contrasted with widespread poverty, must have been infuriating.

Taylor

It was a major turning point. The extravagance, especially from Imelda Marcos, became a symbol of the regime's shamelessness. It fueled the dissidence that led to the People Power movement in 1986, which was a moment of massive popular indignation against corruption. It set a new standard.

Holly

So that movement created a new expectation for governance? It’s fascinating how a society’s tolerance can shift so completely. I read the Philippines ranks 114th out of 180 countries on the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, which is quite concerning.

Taylor

It is, and it shows the fight is far from over. After Marcos Sr. was ousted, there was this blossoming of anti-corruption efforts. New laws, new agencies, and a vibrant civil society. But as we've seen with scandals since, like the 'pork barrel scam,' the system is resilient.

Holly

And what about these 'ghost projects' I've heard about? The idea that a project is reported as complete, the money is all spent, but nothing was ever built. It’s like something out of a novel, but it’s real and it’s happening with critical infrastructure.

Taylor

It's a classic, and devastating, method. An investigation found that of 8,000 flood control projects, 421 were ghost projects. That's 421 communities that thought they were protected, but were left completely exposed because the funds were siphoned off into private pockets.

Holly

That is just heartbreaking. It connects the dots so clearly between a number on a page and the real-world danger people are put in. This history really paints a picture of why thousands are marching today. They're not just angry, they're exhausted.

Taylor

Exactly. And this exhaustion is creating a fascinating and tense political dynamic. The central conflict right now is the people's demand for immediate, decisive action versus the government's more measured, political response. It’s a real pressure cooker situation in Manila.

Holly

The government must feel that pressure. President Marcos Jr. has promised that the officials involved will be in jail by Christmas. That’s a very bold and specific promise. Do people believe it will actually happen, though? That’s always the question.

Taylor

That is the billion-dollar question. Skepticism is high because of the country's history. Adding another layer to the conflict, there have been isolated calls for the military to intervene, to withdraw support from the administration. It’s a sign of just how deep the division is.

Holly

Oh, my. That sounds incredibly unstable. How has the military responded to that? Involving the armed forces would change the situation entirely. I would imagine they would want to appear as a stabilizing force, not an agent of chaos.

Taylor

They played it very strategically. The military, including retired generals, firmly rejected those calls. They released a statement reaffirming their role as a 'steadfast guardian of democracy,' effectively shutting down any speculation of a coup. They are positioning themselves above the political fray.

Holly

That’s a relief to hear. It seems there are groups, like the 'Trillion Peso March Movement,' who are also trying to walk that fine line. They are demanding full accountability from the government but are explicitly rejecting any unconstitutional shortcuts to get there.

Taylor

Yes, and that’s a crucial detail. It shows that the core of the protest movement is pro-democracy. They don't want to burn the system down; they want the system to work as it should. The conflict is about reform, not revolution. It's a fight for justice within the existing framework.

Taylor

And the impact of this scandal is rippling through the entire country, far beyond the protests in Manila. The economic consequences are becoming very clear, and they are quite serious. This isn't just a political crisis; it's rapidly becoming an economic one as well.

Holly

That makes perfect sense. When there's so much instability, investors must get nervous. I saw a quote from the Finance Secretary, Ralph Recto, who said the Philippines could have had faster economic growth if this corruption hadn't been draining public funds. How disheartening for everyone.

Taylor

It's a huge 'what if.' He called corruption a direct barrier to progress. When money for critical projects is wasted, it delays genuine development. It's not just about stolen funds; it's about stolen opportunities for the entire nation to move forward and prosper.

Holly

And it erodes something even more valuable than money: public trust. An economics professor, Dr. Felipe Jesus, pointed out how corruption weakens institutions and stunts national progress. When people can't trust their leaders or systems, it's incredibly difficult to build a functional society.

Taylor

Absolutely. This scandal is casting a long shadow over the country's once-promising economic outlook. It feeds into this broader, regional anger we're seeing across Asia over inequality and government excess. It’s a story that resonates far beyond the Philippines' borders.

Holly

It truly does. The story of ghost projects and padded contracts is a story of betrayal. It betrays the trust of the citizens who pay taxes expecting them to be used for the public good, not to fund extravagant lifestyles for a select few.

Taylor

So, where does the Philippines go from here? President Marcos Jr. has drawn a line in the sand, vowing that people involved will be jailed by the end of the year. He's also established a commission to investigate, signaling he wants to be seen as taking this seriously.

Holly

It’s a critical moment. Fulfilling that promise could be a major step toward restoring some public trust. But given the history, if it doesn't happen, the backlash could be even more intense. The future really hangs in the balance on this one.

Taylor

It does. Civil society groups and church leaders are already planning more anti-corruption protests. The pressure isn't letting up. The big question is whether this will be a genuine turning point or just another chapter in the country's long, cyclical struggle with corruption.

Taylor

That's the end of today's discussion. This is a pivotal moment in the Philippines' long and arduous fight for transparency and accountability.

Holly

Thank you for listening to Goose Pod. See you tomorrow.

Thousands in the Philippines protest corruption, demanding stolen funds back. Massive demonstrations highlight anger over "ghost projects" and siphoned public money. Protesters seek accountability, systemic change, and justice, pushing President Marcos Jr. to act decisively against deeply rooted corruption. The nation's future hinges on genuine reform.

Read original at NPR →

Protesters destroy an effigy of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during an anti-corruption rally in Manila, Philippines on, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. Aaron Favila/AP hide caption toggle caption Aaron Favila/AP MANILA, Philippines — Thousands of demonstrators including from the Roman Catholic church clergy protested in the Philippines on Sunday, calling for the swift prosecution of top legislators and officials implicated in a corruption scandal that has buffeted the Asian democracy.

Left-wing groups led a separate protest in Manila's main park with a blunt demand for all implicated government officials to immediately resign and face prosecution. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been scrambling to quell public outrage over the massive corruption blamed for substandard, defective or non-existent flood control projects across an archipelago long prone to deadly flooding and extreme weather in tropical Asia.

More than 17,000 police officers were deployed in metropolitan Manila to secure the separate protests. The Malacanang presidential palace complex in Manila was in a security lockdown with key access roads and bridges blocked by anti-riot police forces, trucks and barbed wire railings. In a deeply divided democracy where two presidents have been separately overthrown in the last 39 years partly over allegations of plunder, there have been isolated calls for the military to withdraw support from the Marcos administration.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines has steadfastly rejected such calls and welcomed on Sunday a statement signed by at least 88 mostly retired generals, including three military chiefs of staff, who said they "strongly condemn and reject any call for the Armed Forces of the Philippines to engage in unconstitutional acts or military adventurism."

"The unified voice of our retired and active leaders reaffirms that the Armed Forces of the Philippines remains a pillar of stability and a steadfast guardian of democracy," the military said in a statement. Roman Catholic churches across the country helped lead Sunday's anti-corruption protests in their districts, with the main daylong rally being held at a pro-democracy "people power" monument along EDSA highway in the capital region.

Police said about 5,000 demonstrators mostly wearing white joined before noon. Protesters shout slogans during anti-corruption protest in Manila, Philippines on Sunday Nov. 30, 2025. Aaron Favila/AP hide caption toggle caption Aaron Favila/AP They demanded that members of Congress, officials and construction company owners behind thousands of anomalous flood control projects in recent years be imprisoned and ordered to return the government funds they stole.

A protester wore a shirt with a blunt message: "No mercy for the greedy." "If money is stolen, that's a crime, but if dignity and lives are taken away, these are sins against fellow human beings, against the country but, most importantly, against God," said the Rev. Flavie Villanueva, a Catholic priest, who has helped many families of impoverished drug suspects killed under former President Rodrigo Duterte's crackdowns.

"Jail all the corrupt and jail all the killers," Villanueva told the crowd of protesters. Since Marcos first raised alarm over the flood control anomalies in his state of the nation address before Congress in July, at least seven public works officers have been jailed for illegal use of public funds and other graft charges in one flood control project anomaly alone.

Executives of Sunwest Corp., a construction firm involved in the project, were being sought. On Friday, Henry Alcantara, a former government engineer who has acknowledged under oath in Senate inquiry hearings his involvement in the anomalies, returned 110 million pesos ($1.9 million) in kickbacks that justice officials said he stole and promised to return more in a few weeks.

About 12 billion pesos ($206 million) worth of assets of suspects in flood control anomalies have been frozen by authorities, Marcos said. Marcos has pledged that many of at least 37 powerful senators, members of Congress and wealthy construction executives implicated in the corruption scandal would be in jail by Christmas.

Protesters in Sunday's rallies said many more officials, including implicated senators and House of Representatives members, should be jailed sooner and ordered to return the funds they stole and used to finance fleets of private jets and luxury cars, mansions and extravagant lifestyles. AP journalists Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila contributed to this report

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