Marcos last year boasted that his government had completed over 5,500 flood control projects as solution to widespread flooding. However, shamed by repeated worse flooding, Marcos washed his hands and said “shame on you” while pointing fingers to the contractors of these multi-billion peso projects and their political accomplices.

Marcos evades responsibility, despite having prepared and signed the budget that allocated enormous funds for these milking cow flood control projects. Almost half a trillion pesos were allocated for these anomalous projects over the past two years, 60.7% more than 2022-2023. Like Marcos, political allies and rivals, are also washing their hands. They point fingers at each other. Directly or indirectly, senators and congressmen, officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Budget and Management, various government agencies, and Malacañang itself, are involved in these anomalies.

In recent weeks, gross irregularities in these projects have been exposed, with many left unfinished, made below standards, or non-existent despite release of funds. Corrupt bureaucrats and contractors are revealed to have embezzled billions upon billions of pesos.

People are again made aware how they amass billions of pesos from public projects, in the form of bribes, kickbacks, or commissions. It is believed that up to 60% of a project’s value is pocketed by reactionary government officials at various levels. Since the Marcos dictatorship, it has been the practice that up to 10% of these projects’ funds are siphoned off to Malacañang in exchange for government favors and protection.

Marcos’ list of the largest contractors in the Philippines is comparable to Duterte’s “drug list” that was touted as a way to crack down on drug lords, but in reality, it was used to make them bow and seek protection. The current salvo against contractors, politicians, and corrupt officials by Marcos is a charade of government cleansing, with the true intention of controlling and monopolizing state corruption.

We must understand that many of the flood control projects, particularly the largest ones that involve building concrete walls along riverbanks, are not solutions, but rather causes of more severe flooding. Instead of addressing the root causes of river siltation (such as logging, mining, quarrying, and other destructive activities), these projects merely shift flooding to lower-lying areas and make water surge more powerful and destructive.

The truth is that these large-scale flood control projects have nothing to do with solving flooding. They are simply the latest “favorites” among infrastructure projects that line the pockets of bureaucratic capitalists and dummy contractors. These projects began to proliferate during Duterte’s time (with nearly 14,000 projects). Before flood control projects, their “favorite” projects were highways, flyovers, bridges, airports, ports, and crossings. People’s funds are squandered in these projects instead of being invested in productive sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing.

Increasing funds squandered on unproductive infrastructure projects are part of the priorities pushed by imperialist financial agencies, such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, and others. Under Marcos, fund for infrastructure has ballooned from ₱2.5 trillion in 2022-2023 to ₱3.07 trillion in 2024-2025, a large part of which is to match foreign grants. Marcos and bureaucratic capitalists serve as agents of these foreign imperialist banks.

Bureaucratic capitalists are obsessed with “infrastructure projects” because of the speed at which they can accumulate vast amounts of wealth from them. Military officials and NTF-Elcac are also hooked on these projects. A large part of public funds is allocated to building military camps and “beautifying” them, as well as billions of pesos in anomalous and meaningless projects under the so-called “Barangay Development Program.”

Corruption or plunder of the public funds is a fundamental aspect of bureaucratic capitalism. Bureaucratic capitalists and their accomplices accumulate enormous wealth using state power. They are allied with big bourgeois compradors and landlords comprising the political dynasties, and use the state’s armed forces to suppress the people’s resistance.

The masses bear the brunt of corruption of bureaucratic capitalists, their lackeys, and accomplices in government anomalies. They float on wealth, while the masses drown in a sea of hardship and hunger. While they sleep soundly in their mansions and ride in luxurious cars, millions of poor people live in fear of the raging floods that come with every rain.

The people’s anger is deep, intense, and justified. Their hatred for Marcos, the number one plunderer of the public funds, is greatest. The gatherings, declarations, and protests in recent days reflect the overflowing anger against Marcos and bureaucratic capitalism.

They demand to hold Marcos and his lackeys and accomplices accountable for their wealth and power. Knowing that nothing will come of congressional investigations or Malacañang’s actions, it is only right that they carry out even bigger street protests to express the outrage of the broad masses of the people in various ways.

The people must be aroused, organized, and mobilized to fight and end the oppressive semicolonial and semifeudal system, and the reactionary rule of bureaucratic capitalists, big bourgeois compradors, and landlords. The people’s aspirations for social justice, genuine democracy, and freedom can only be achieved through revolutionary armed struggle.