Vancouver, Canada – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said former President Rodrigo Duterte acknowledged systemic issues in government flood control projects but failed to hold anyone accountable, marking the first time he has directly faulted his predecessor over the alleged anomalies.
Speaking to reporters at the conclusion of his official visit to Canada on Saturday, July 4, Marcos said the government’s ongoing investigation has revealed that questionable infrastructure allocations predate his administration.
“If you remember, in 2018, then-House Minority Leader Nonoy Andaya had already uncovered a ₱300-billion flood control mess,” Marcos said, noting that the pattern stretches back across the 2017 and 2018 fiscal years.
“At the time, President Duterte acknowledged that there were great problems in terms of the flood control projects. Pero wala namang nangyari (But nothing happened),” Marcos added.
“Having acknowledged it, it did not find accountability in anybody. So I guess that was left up to me to do.”
Marcos emphasized that his administration’s investigation into the multi-billion peso anomalies is still widening.
“The more we look, the more we investigate, the more we find,” he said.
He described the issue as a “deep-seated system of corruption” that requires structural overhauls and a shift in institutional culture within state engineering agencies.
When asked about critics who accuse his administration of weaponizing these corruption allegations for political leverage ahead of legislative races, Marcos rejected the claim outright.
“I’m the one who exposed all of this,” he said. “And I’m the only one that has started to do anything about this.”
Marcos added that past administrations failed to pursue these cases, freeze linked bank accounts, or exact accountability from guilty parties.
He also dismissed accusations that the alleged financial diversions currently benefit his own office.
“Kung talagang racket ko ’yun, ba’t ko sisiraan ’yung racket ko? That makes absolutely no sense,” Marcos said.
(Translation: If that really were my racket, why would I destroy it? That makes absolutely no sense.)
