Vancouver, Canada — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said his administration is far from done investigating alleged corruption in flood control projects, saying investigators continue to uncover more anomalies as they cast a wider net.
In an interview with reporters in Canada on Saturday, July 4, the president was asked whether his administration had done enough since declaring in his 2025 State of the Nation Address that officials involved in corruption should be ashamed,
Marcos said, “Well, I cannot say that we have done enough because we are not done yet. Unfortunately, the more we look, the more we find.”
He said the alleged irregularities extend beyond his administration.
The president said the continuing investigation has revealed what he described as a deeply rooted system of corruption that cannot be solved solely through criminal cases.
“This is a deep-seated system of corruption that requires not only structural changes in the way government is run, in the way the budget is written, but also a change in attitude,” he said.
He said changing the culture within government is the biggest challenge because some officials have come to view kickbacks as acceptable.
“Akala nila karapatan nila yung ginagawa nila. Wala kaming ginagawang mali, ganyan talaga ang patakbo dito,” Marcos said.
[Translation: They think what they’re doing is their right. They believe they are doing nothing wrong because that’s simply how government operates.]
Asked whether the investigations amount to selective justice, Marcos said the government’s former independent commission would continue to follow the evidence.
“From the time that we formed the independent commission, I said we’ll just follow the evidence, and we’ll continue to do that,” he said.
