 "Philippines: Over 600,000 protesters hit Manila streets seeking probe into flood-control scam")
As a protest against the corruption caused in flood-mitigation projects, over 600,000 protesters took to streets of Manila to protest against it. The protest began on Sunday and drove tens of thousands, and is expected to run until Tuesday.
The protest is organised by Iglesia Ni Cristo, who is a 2-million-strong church known for bloc voting who mobilised people to stand against the ill practices.
The protest came as a way of expressing frustration against the ineffective inquiries into irregularities in major infrastructure projects. The major crowd on Sunday expressed dissatisfaction.
We are calling for the government to carry out a real, sincere, investigation and not cover up for anyone who is involved in this anomaly," said 60-year-old Freddie Beley as quoted by news agency Reuters.
The scandal has widened since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. disclosed in August the results of an internal audit into flood-control projects, revealing troubling irregularities.
As public spending slowed down, the controversy hammered investor confidence as seen by some analysts as a factor behind economic growth.
Marcos has launched a commission to investigate the alleged corruption in infrastructure projects. The president, son of a former leader accused of widespread corruption during his rule, has framed his crackdown as part of a broader push for accountability and transparency.
A protester named Armelyn Bandril, 35, said there was a lack of accountability and mismanagement. “Almost a hundred days have passed since the process began, yet no one has been jailed. There’s plenty of proof,” she said.
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View AllMarcos also vowed that those held responsible for the failure of the projects would be jailed before Christmas.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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