President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has directly called out former President Rodrigo Duterte for the first time, accusing his predecessor of failing to address deep-seated corruption in national flood control projects during his administration.
Speaking to reporters in Vancouver at the end of his official visit to Canada on Saturday, Marcos defended his administration against critics who labeled his anti-corruption efforts as slow and selective.
He asserted that the multibillion-peso collusion involving lawmakers, contractors, and officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) would have remained hidden had he not exposed it during his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA).
Marcos targeted Duterte for ignoring the DPWH’s “ghost” projects despite being aware of the severe discrepancies early in his presidency.
“But nothing happened. Having acknowledged it, he did not find accountability in anybody. So I guess that was left up [for] me to do,” Marcos said.
“I’m the one who exposed all of this. And I’m the only one who has started doing something about it,” the president said.
“Did previous presidents do something like this? Did you see any of them put anyone in jail? Did they freeze accounts? Did they conduct investigations? There were none. It only happened under me,” he added.
Marcos dismissed allegations linking him to the anomaly, arguing that exposing the scheme would be counterproductive if he were involved.
“If that were really my racket, why would I ruin it in the first place? That makes absolutely no sense,” he said.
The President pointed out that the P300-billion controversy had been public since 2018, when former Camarines Sur Representative Rolando Andaya Jr. revealed a scheme where a former Duterte Cabinet member allegedly “parked” P300 million for a local flood mitigation project. The wider scandal involves massive budget insertions, including a disputed P75-billion DPWH allocation.
While previous defenses of the ongoing probe were handled by Malacañang officials, including Palace Press Officer Claire Castro, Marcos personally stepped forward to deny accusations of selective justice against political opponents.
“From the time we formed the independent commission, I said we’ll just follow the evidence, and we’ll continue to do that,” he said.