The nation marks the 43rd anniversary of the
assassination of former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. today — a crime
whose full circumstances remain unresolved to this day. For the Partido
Manggagawa, this should not be a day of ceremony and long weekends alone. It
should be a day of reckoning: which parts of the old system of plunder and
impunity are still with us, and who continues to pay the price?
“Ninoy was killed because he tried to end a system
that thrives on unaccountable power. Forty-three years later, that same system
survives — no longer in the form of a corrupt dictatorship, but in the form of
systemic corruption and proliferation of political dynasties,” said Ka Rene
Magtubo, Chairperson of the Partido Manggagawa.
Department of Finance data shows the Philippine
economy lost between P42.3 billion and P118.5 billion to “ghost” flood control
projects from 2023 to 2025. For his part, Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson
disclosed that a total of ₱1.939 trillion for flood control programs spanning
three administrations from 2011 to 2025 was allocated by the Department of
Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and supposes that around 35% to 40% of this
multi-trillion-peso fund may have been lost to systemic corruption.
“Hundreds of thousands of jobs could have been created
and better public services provided to our people had the funds not been
stolen,” stressed Magtubo.
Compounding the theft, 67 members of Congress were
themselves contractors on their own state-funded projects in 2022 — a conflict
of interest the system allowed to operate in plain sight. “This is the real
twin defect in our governance: the very officials tasked with safeguarding
public funds are the ones profiting from them,” said Magtubo.
“It mirrors exactly what the Pasig RTC is now doing
against Wage Order 27 — an authority meant to uphold the law instead of
violating it,” Magtubo added, referring to the pending injunction against the
NCR minimum wage increase.
The scandal also exposes a deeper structural rot:
there is no genuine political freedom while political dynasties dominate every
branch of government. Many of the officials, contractors, and enablers named in
the flood control probe are bound by family ties spanning Congress, local
government, and the contracting industry itself — allowing public funds to be
recycled within the same clans instead of reaching the public they are meant to
serve.
This is precisely why Partido Manggagawa has long
pushed for a genuine anti-political dynasty law: without it, elections change
faces, but not the families who control both the public purse and public
policy.
Magtubo stressed that every peso stolen through ghost
projects is a peso denied to social services, decent wages, and effective labor
law enforcement. “While business groups and some officials claim the economy
‘cannot afford’ a wage hike, billions of pesos continue flowing into phantom
projects that deliver nothing concrete for the people. That is where public
anger belongs — not against workers simply asking for a wage that covers daily
survival.”
The Partido Manggagawa is calling for:
§ Full accountability for those involved in the
flood control scam — not only lawyers and lower-level staff, but the principals
in Congress and the executive branch;
§ Abolition of the “allocables” funding system
that remains open to the same abuse;
§ Passage of a genuine anti-political dynasty
law, to break the family monopolies over public office and public funds that
make scandals like this possible;
§ Immediate lifting of the injunction against
Wage Order 27, as proof that government prioritizes workers over businesses
fearful of a wage increase;
§ Legislation of a national minimum wage that
removes the process from wage boards easily influenced by the same interests
behind the ghost projects.
“Remembering Ninoy should not end with fighting for political freedom. It must also include the fight for economic freedom — against corruption, against poverty, and against a system that continues to impoverish workers while enriching the few,” Magtubo concluded.
PRESS RELEASE
21 August 2026
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