Fury on corruption and “nepo babies” while floods paralyze daily life

Crissa Tolentino has long resigned to floods as a way of life.

The 36 -year -old public school teacher takes a boat in the streets flooded almost every day. This is the only way to travel from her house to the suburbs at the heart of Apalit, a lower city near the Philippine Manila capital.

The boat takes her to work and the clinic where she is treated for cancer. She says that she only sees dry streets for about two months in the year.

But this year, she is very angry.

An unusual fierce monsoon has more than ever derailed daily life in the Southeast Asian nation and has sparked anger and allegations concerning corruption in flood control projects.

The rains have failed millions in mid-term, cars led to floating in streets that have turned into rivers and have caused flambés of leptospirosis, a liver disease that is propagated by the excrement of sewer rats.

“I feel betrayed,” said Ms. Tolentino. “I work hard, I do not spend too much and the taxes are deducted from my salary every month. Then, I learn that billions of our taxes are appreciated by corrupt politicians.”

This is an accusation that resonates through the Philippines, where people ask why the government cannot tame the floods with the billions of pesos it pours in infrastructure such as roads, bridges and embankments.

Their anger is palpable on Tiktok, Facebook and X, where they were evacuated against the legislators and the magnifications of the construction which they allege to win contracts for “ghost” projects which never materialize.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr himself recognized this as a continuous challenge during a visit to inspect a flood control dam which he then found which did not exist. The economic minister of economic planning said that corruption had claimed 70% of the public funds allocated to the control of floods.

The president of the chamber, which was involved, resigned, although he denies any reprehensible act. And the head of the Senate was ousted after noting that an entrepreneur who won a government offer was found to have given money in his campaign in 2022, which is illegal.

The indignant Philippins cut the videos of the AI ​​of legislators as crocodiles, a symbol of greed. A large part of anger is also addressed to “nepo babies”, the children of wealthy politicians or entrepreneurs, whose extravagant life is everywhere on social networks.

By browsing her flows, Ms. Tolentino says she is most related to a 2009 rap song which has become the soundtrack of public fury.

Upuan, by local artist Gloc-9, wonders why politicians are unable to sympathize with ordinary people. The title of the song means “seat” in Tagalog, a local language, and it channels anger at those who have parliamentary seats which seem far from the life of the ordinary Philippins.

“It’s (song) is our real situation,” said Tolentino. “This explains everything.”

A huge anti -corruption demonstration is already scheduled for Sunday September 21 – the birthday of 1972 when chief Ferdinand Marcos imposed martial law.

His son, who is now president – Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr – is well aware of the distance that can go. These are anti-corruption demonstrations that led his father from power in 1986, ending a dictatorship of several decades which diverted billions from the state.

More recently, anti-corruption demonstrations forced a legislative reform in Indonesia and, last week, overthrew the government in Nepal. And so on Monday, while the Philippins demanded an explanation, President Marcos JR announced an investigation which “would unmask the crooks and discovered how they stole”.

“If I was not president, I could be on the street with them,” he told journalists.

“Let them know how hard they hurt you, how they stole you. Make it know, shout on it, demonstrate-just do it peaceful.”

He echoed the previous comments when he promised a relief of the floods, while seeming to pin the blame elsewhere. He reproached politicians and corrupt construction companies for the serious lack of infrastructure: “Shame on you,” he said.

Then at a press conference, he said that he had discovered a “disturbing” fact: the Ministry of Public Works had only contracted 15 companies to build flood control projects worth 545 billion pesos ($ 9 billion; 7.1 billion pounds sterling).

All these companies are now examined and the central bank has frozen their assets, but the most attention has gone to a family business. It is up to Pacifico and Sarah Décaya, who have been raised in poor families but who are now a rich and high -flying couple on social networks. Before the controversy of the floods, Ms. Décaya was best known for her unsuccessful candidacy to become mayor of Pasig City.

At the end of last year, the couple was interviewed on the popular YouTube channels, where they shared their history of rags with the rich. An interviewer described him as “inspiring”. But following the disastrous floods, these videos resurfaced as subjects of anger.

They show the couple showing their three dozen luxury cars, including a Mercedes Benz Maybach, a Lincoln navigator and a Porsche Cayenne. They bought models in two distinct colors, in black and white.

The backlash was rapid. The divayas were summoned by the Senate and the House of Representatives to investigate, and the authorities put their business on the list, while the demonstrators coated the doors of their office with mud and painted the word “thief”.

During a recent hearing in the House, Mr. Discaya admitted that he had paid bribes to the legislators – “we could not do anything other than play with them” – but the members of the Congress challenged his allegation.

Disayas and other entrepreneurs have accused more than a dozen legislators, including President Marcos key allies, but they all denied allegations.

The Philippin Internet also targeted the children of politicians and entrepreneurs suspected of poorly using funds, to mark them with the Hashtag “NEPO BABIES”. Many are young women whose lifestyle in Jet Set in Jet of Creator on Social Networks has aroused sarcastic comments on how they should thank taxpayers for funding their purchases and their trips.

A daughter of a former member of the congress was called for a single outfit, when she paired Fendi in Dior, and wore a coveted Birkin bag at high prices of Hermès. Some of these people have disabled comments on their accounts or completely deactivated them.

Indignation has galvanized people behind some of the most popular social media accounts. “We will be implacable. We will be noisy. We will be a mirror held in power, and we will not look away until justice is not returned,” said the collective called creators against corruption.

And there is also offline anger. The employees of the Public Works Department, whose engineers were accused of having helped in the transplant, were authorized to stop carrying their uniforms following reports that they were heckled and harassed in public.

Life under the difficulties caused by extreme weather conditions and poor urban planning continues in the meantime.

Rhens Rafael Galang even made it a flourishing company. He sells a overalls with rain boots sewn on Tiktok. His regular use is as a researcher to the government.

“I am angry and dismayed because the money allocated to flood control projects in our province was wasted, to the people who used it for their personal gain,” he said.

The 28 -year -old, who lives in the city of Calumpit in one of the most affected provinces, still leaves the house in shorts. He then walks in the flooded streets before changing in another set of clothes on dry land. The videos of his challenges have become viral. One, which shows him to wade more deeply by going down to a flooded street, obtained three million views.

It is at the mercy of such routines until its area obtains sewers and storm dikes. “But I hope that, over time, a long-term flood control project will be built in our region, that funds will be used honestly,” he said.

The Philippins are no strangers to allegations of corruption – they ousted two presidents on it.

More than a decade ago – in 2013 – legislators were accused of pocket billions of their discretionary budgets for ghost projects.

MP Leila de Lima, then Secretary of Justice, investigated the allegations. Now, as she finds herself confronted with another huge corruption scandal, she fears that the scale to have enlarged, from tens of billions to hundreds of billions, she told Podcast Facts First recently.

“I don’t know how to feel it. It’s such a mess.”