By the Campaign against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law
We dismissed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s emotional display in a recent podcast interview as nothing but crocodile tears. No amount of dramatics can cover up the corruption and misuse of public funds under his own administration.
Instead of crying for the cameras, Marcos Jr. should explain and put an end to his government’s ballooning confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs). Even as the Office of the Vice President has been exposed for its questionable CIF spending, remember that it was President Marcos who provided the P125 million CIF in 2022, which disappeared in 11 days! It was also under Marcos that Sara Duterte got hold of a total of P612.5 million in total confidential funds for the OVP and Department of Education. The misuse of these funds is one of the reasons for the impeachment complaint against Sara Duterte which Marcos Jr. has publicly discouraged.
Now, the Office of the President has the audacity to propose P10.7 billion in confidential funds for 2026. These unprogrammed funds — left entirely to the President’s discretion — should instead be allocated to address poverty, hunger and disaster response, the very crises he claims to be moved by.
Worse, recent reports revealed that nearly 20 percent of the massive P545-billion flood mitigation budget was cornered by only 15 contractors! Are we expected to believe that Marcos Jr., alongside the Dutertes, bears no responsibility for this brazen corruption, while ordinary Filipinos continue to suffer from floods, soaring prices and lack of basic services?
We stress that corruption has long been the Marcos family’s hallmark. During the dictatorship, the Marcoses and their cronies plundered an estimated US$10 billion in ill-gotten wealth, as documented by the Presidential Commission on Good Government. Decades later, billions remain unrecovered. Cronies such as Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. enriched themselves through schemes like the Coco Levy Fund scam, which robbed millions of coconut farmers nationwide.
Let us not forget: the Marcos family also refuses to pay the P203-billion estate tax liability, another glaring symbol of impunity.
Today, Marcos Jr. continues this shameful legacy of corruption — shielding CIFs from scrutiny, tolerating favoritism in public works contracts and surrounding himself with cronies who profit from the people’s suffering. His so-called “tears” cannot erase decades of plunder and continuing misuse of public funds.
We reiterate: crocodile tears will not put food on the table, nor will they keep families safe from floods and disasters. What the Filipino people urgently need is transparency, accountability and the redirection of public funds away from corruption and Marcos Jr.’s discretionary funds and towards programs for the people’s rights and welfare.
The Filipino people deserve genuine systemic change in governance, not theatrics. And we will never forget the Marcoses’ long legacy of corruption and plunder, because accountability remains the urgent call of the people.