Philippines’ Marcos uses national address to promise relief, but funding questions loom

But while analysts said the one-and-a-half-hour speech addressed issues Filipinos had expected Marcos to confront, they questioned how the government could afford the handouts and why he announced no austerity or revenue-raising measures to address continuing financial and economic pressures and a deepening debt burden.

Marcos began his speech by returning to the corruption issue that dominated last year’s address: an inquiry into alleged irregularities in flood-control projects, including claims of ghost, substandard and overpriced works, that investigators said had channelled public funds through kickbacks to politicians, public works officials and contractors.

The scandal has become one of the biggest tests of Marcos’ anti-corruption drive, not least because it has implicated former House speaker Martin Romualdez, the president’s first cousin and long-time political ally, who stepped down last year amid mounting pressure over the controversy.

In his speech, Marcos said cases had already been filed against and some arrests made of contractors, senior Department of Public Works and Highways officials and lawmakers.

He said that, according to the Ombudsman, the country’s anti-corruption body, authorities were close to filing “multiple cases against the former speaker”.