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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 'Buwagin natin 'yan': Marcos wants 21-year systemic corruption to end

'Buwagin natin 'yan': Marcos wants 21-year systemic corruption to end

Published Sep 10, 2025 01:34 pm
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. delivers his fourth State of the Nation Address at the House of Representatives in Quezon City on July 28, 2025. (Mark Balmores)
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. delivers his fourth State of the Nation Address at the House of Representatives in Quezon City on July 28, 2025. (Mark Balmores)
While laws and rules are in place, they have not been implemented properly leading to systemic corruption activities that have been normalized for decades now, President Marcos lamented.
Although deep-seated, Marcos vowed to put an end to corruption in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), saying that decades of abuses will no longer be tolerated.
“We haven’t been following (the rules) apparently it turns out for at least 21 years. Because the date we keep seeing is 2003. So, 21 years nang ganito (It's been going on for 21 years). So, it got worse and worse and worse and worse,” Marcos said in an interview in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Tuesday, Sept. 9.
“And the shocking part of this is that it became normalized. ‘Hindi, ganyan talaga, e ganyan talaga ang patakbo, e.' Pumayag naman yung mga iba. E, ako hindi ako papayag (No, that’s really how it is, that’s really how things are run. Some of them agreed, but me—I won’t agree),” he stressed.
The President further lamented that "the system of this kind of corruption has been institutionalized," considering how long it has been allegedly practiced in the department.
"So, this has been going for 21 years. And that is why it’s so deeply seated within the system," he said.
Marcos hopes to put an end to the illegal practices through the independent commission, which will be tasked to investigate flood control anomalies in the DPWH.
He said the independent commission will not only investigate irregularities in flood control projects, but it will also tackle systemic corruption within the DPWH.
“Dapat malaman kung paano tayo nagkaganito (We must know how we ended up like this). How did we get to this terrible point where all of these actuations – ito yung mga kickback, lahat ‘yang mga pinag-uusapan natin – naging institutionalized, naging normal (the kickback, all that has been talked about, how did they become normal and institutionalized),” the President said.
“And that’s what we are going to have to investigate. And we have to — buwagin natin ang sistemang ‘yan (we will dismantle that). They cannot be allowed continuity,” Marcos stressed.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Marcos has yet to announce the formation and powers given to the independent commission, which, he said, would be revealed in the next 24 hours since he came back from Cambodia on Tuesday.

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