MANILA: Corruption has emerged as one of the main national concerns among Filipinos, a new survey showed on Monday, amid controversy over irregularities in flood control projects.
Nationwide outrage in the Philippines has grown since August as investigators uncovered massive fund misappropriation in flood prevention and mitigation projects.
An audit ordered by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. found that of the 545 billion pesos ($9.54 billion) allocated to the projects since 2022, thousands were substandard, poorly documented, or nonexistent.
Several powerful political figures have been implicated, fueling public backlash in one of the world’s most typhoon-prone countries.
The situation has catapulted concerns over corruption to the second biggest worry of Filipinos, right after the increase in prices of basic goods and services, according to a survey by OCTA Research, an independent group of Philippine academics specialized in public opinion polls.
The survey asked respondents about the most important issues that the Marcos administration must act on immediately.
“No. 1 on the list is inflation — the rise in the price of goods and services. No. 2 is really corruption … For the first time in four years, the issue of corruption has become a top concern,” Prof. Ranjit Rye, OCTA Research fellow, told Arab News.
“(The) survey reveals a record surge in public alarm over corruption as this concern enters the top five urgent national issues for the first time.”
Concerns about corruption were followed by access to affordable food items, wage increases, and poverty reduction.
The study, conducted by OCTA in late September on 1,200 respondents, showed that public concern over corruption in government surged from 13 percent in July to 31 percent in September — the highest ever recorded by the pollster.
The sharp increase came as more details about the flood prevention corruption scandal were made public.
During a Senate hearing in early September, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said that economic losses due to corruption in flood control projects may have averaged $2.1 billion annually from 2023 to 2025, mainly due to ghost projects.
The findings have ignited public outrage, with activists, former Cabinet members, Catholic church leaders, retired generals and anti-corruption watchdogs organizing numerous protests and calling for sweeping criminal prosecution.
“What we’re seeing here is a shifting public focus towards governance and anti-corruption, apart from a focus on the economic realities in the Philippines,” Rye said.
“The sharp rise in corruption concerns indicates a growing public demand for integrity and accountability in government, as adult Filipinos increasingly turn their attention from just economic concerns to other issues, such as that of governance.”
