Twenty three typhoons hit the country in 2025, of which Tino was the
most damaging in terms of loss of lives. Millions were affected by the heavy
flooding in many areas due to the frequent typhoons and rains. This contrasted
with the boast of President Bongbong Marcos in his State of the Nation Address
about more than 5,000 flood control projects implemented by his administration.
The disconnect between expectation and reality unleashed a perfect storm of
outrage over the corruption attending ghost or substandard flood control
projects.
The controversy sparked back-to-back massive rallies on September 21 and
November 30. While the November protests were smaller in the NCR compared to
that of September, it was, however, more widespread with many cities holding
activities. The anger over corruption cut across different classes but much of
the energy for the mass actions came from students. In this, the Philippines
had parallels to movements in Indonesia and Nepal with symbols like One Piece
and triggers like nepo babies. The Catholic Church was also a key coordinator
of the movement aside from a major mobilizer of protesters. In this, the
Philippines differed from other anti-corruption protests elsewhere.
The year ended with no one found guilty for the multi-billion flood
control scandal. While several millions and a few luxury cars have been
returned to the national treasury, such are a drop in the bucket compared to
the P546 billion spent for almost 10,000 ineffective flood control projects
from July 2022 to May 2025.
The explosion of corruption controversy sparked a political crisis for
the administration, with presidential cousin House Speaker Martin Romualdez
resigning. The chief of the armed forces exposed alleged attempts to entice
generals to withdraw their support for the administration amid the
anti-corruption mass actions. The political infighting between the president
and vice president escalated even as both were embroiled in their own
corruption scandals. For many Filipinos, the polarization is along dynastic
lines, not economic class or political ideology.
Even though workers joined the anti-corruption protests, they did so as
individuals and not as an organized force. Unions did take the initiative in
calling for an anti-corruption protest in Makati in early November. Workers in
the formal sector disproportionately contribute taxes to the public coffers so
they should be among the most affected by leakage and waste in the national
budget. Further, workers, both formal and informal, bear the brunt of the
impact of climate change—from loss of pay due to typhoons to extreme heat in
the workplace. And yet, for workers, pervasive outrage over corruption has yet
to be expressed as visible protest.
While traditional workers’ issues such as wage hikes and labor
contractualization remain pressing concerns, popular struggles have yet to
erupt, unlike the anti-corruption protests. Filipinos faced their own
affordability crisis as exemplified in the pervasive indignation over
Department of Trade and Industry’s provocative P500 budget for a noche buena.
The controversy expressed the popular perception that wages and income for
ordinary Filipinos have not coped up with inflation.
The affordability crisis sustained organized labor’s campaign for a
legislated wage hike. At the last minute, labor’s demand succeeded led to the
House of Representatives passing a P200 bill which however conflicted with a
P100 version in the Senate, which had been pending since 2024. The House and
Senate did not reconcile the two wage bills and thus workers were again left
with nothing as Congress closed to give way to the newly elected one.
In the wake of the defeat of the legislated salary increase, regional
wage boards ordered minimum wage hikes ranging from P20 to P60 in the latter
half of 2025. Yet, the highest monthly minimum wage in Metro Manila—using the
mean of 22 workdays—is still less than half of the Asia Floor Wage Alliance’s
estimate of P36,200 living wage based on a 3,000-calorie daily diet per adult.
Moreover, the minimum wage in all regions fall below the government’s own
poverty threshold. This means that minimum wage earners are working poor. It
was thus no surprise that Filipinos flared up in disbelief when authorities
insisted that P500 was enough to cover a simple Christmas feast.
Inflation will persist into 2026 and will erode the purchasing power of
formal and informal workers. High oil prices will be sustained by the war by
Russia in Ukraine and a new one brewing in Venezuela by the US. Meanwhile
climate change will continue to disrupt agricultural and manufacturing supply
chains, pushing production costs up. Thus, affordability and corruption
will remain hot button concerns for workers in 2026. Workers will need to scale
up their game if they want change to happen next year.
How can officials, legislators and contractors be held accountable for
the multibillion-peso corruption in flood control projects? How can this happen
under the current administration which is alleged to be complicit in the
scandal? This continues to be a challenge for the anti-corruption movement.
How can workers surmount their doubts about the efficacy of collective
action? Can labor groups inspire and mobilize the millions of unorganized
workers to fight for popular demands like a wage hike and regular jobs? This
remains the question for the labor movement.
As the anti-corruption protests show, only visible mass actions in the
streets, not noise on social media, can nudge the government to do something.
As protests elsewhere bare, only sustained mass struggles can bring about
systemic change. Surveys reveal that Filipinos are hoping for better times in
2026. To make those hopes real, we need to make collective action among our new
year’s resolutions.
31 December 2025
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