Promising that the “bleeding” will soon heal.
Speaking at the recent event with the Malacañang Press Corps, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. likened the administration’s ongoing reforms against corruption to a major surgery needed to remove cancer.
He said this as he acknowledged that the campaign to stamp out corruption has been difficult, as the country continues to endure the painful consequences of dismantling entrenched abuses and overhauling a deeply flawed system.
“The truth of the matter is, it really has been a difficult time because I knew that what we were starting would really be disruptive, but we are trying precisely to change the entire system,” said PBBM.
He continued, “And when you have to excise a cancer out of such a complicated system, you need to do some very major surgery. And to do that, when you do that, you will bleed. And that is what we had to go through. We had to go through that.”
Marcos also apologized to people who suffered because of the “painful” reform, telling, “Otherwise, we will do things the same way that we have always done, that the things that we have discovered that are being done for the last three decades will just continue.”
He added: “So we have to go through that pain, go through difficulty, go through the anguish that the country is going through now. But we are Filipinos. We may be bleeding now, but we will also heal very, very quickly.”
Marcos also said the administration remains firmly on track with its reform agenda, adding that the administration knows exactly what steps must be taken and will continue its campaign against abuses, entitlement, and irregular practices.
“So, it’s not as if we are lost and we do not know what we are going to do. We know what we are going to do, and we will continue this campaign against corruption. We will continue our campaign on this abuse and this entitlement that has shocked everyone, myself included,” the President stated.
Although, he expressed optimism that once the nation overcomes this period, the country will emerge stronger and more capable of preventing similar problems in the future.
“So I hope that once we go through this, and I know it will be done, once we go through this, that we will be able to look back on this and say, ‘Okay, mahirap iyong nangyari pero kailangan gawin at worth it iyong pagdusa na pinagdaanan natin para sa naging resulta. That is what we are hoping for,” added the President.
FULL SUPPORT TO THE ICI
Meanwhile, amid the ongoing probes, which has now also involved his son Rep. Sandro Marcos, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has given the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) his full support to carry out its investigation into irregularities in flood control projects.
According to Palace Press Officer Usec. Claire Castro, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has issued the Special Allotment Release Order (SARO), a government document authorizing fund disbursement, as early as September—the same month the President created the ICI.
“At hindi naman nagkulang ang Pangulo dahil lahat ng kailangan ng ICI, lahat ng maibibigay na tulong na manggagaling po sa Pangulo, iyan ay ibinibigay,” Castro said.
She continued, “Ayon sa DBM, iyong SARO ay as early as September nandiyan na. Ang natatangi lamang siguro nagkaroon ng konting delay ay iyong pag-i-implement or pagsasagawa ng MDS o iyong modified disbursement system. At ngayon po ay maitatanong natin, iyong pondo ay nasa kanila na.”
When asked whether the President supports the idea of strengthening a body to investigate corruption in infrastructure projects, Castro said that all institutions mandated to investigate corruption should have the appropriate power to do so.
“Ang lahat naman ng institusyon na mayroong power to investigate, lahat dapat ay malakas, mayroon silang kapangyarihan,”furtehred the Palace official.
With recommendations from the ICI and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the Office of the Ombudsman has since filed graft and malversation cases against several individuals implicated in the flood control corruption scandal.