Marcos turns emotional while talking about corruption in government: 'I see people having a hard time, and they don’t deserve it'

Marcos claimed he was losing sleep amid the corruption issues.

Morales noted how heartbreaking it must have been for Marcos to see hardworking Filipinos amid the massive corruption.

The president clarified that he's not disheartened nor disappointed, but "very, very angry."

"How can you do this to people who have worked every day of their lives?" he said.

Without mentioning anyone, Marcos called out those who buy luxury cars, particularly Rolls-Royce, despite many Filipino families struggling to make ends meet. (Top government contractor Sarah Discaya has been in the headlines for owning several luxury cars, including a Rolls-Royce.)

"Nagsakripisyo ng mahirap for very little. Just to be able to send money home, just to be able to feed their family, send their children to school. That's all they want in life. Kukunin n'yo pa sa kanila 'yun? Horrible, horrible situation."

Marcos said he was asked what he'd do if the people involved are his friends or allies, and he noted, "We're making an omelette, we're going to have to break some eggs. There's just no way around it."

When asked what if it's his relatives, he didn't directly respond. Instead, he asked, "Who's more important, your friend, your political supporter, or every single ordinary Filipino citizen? Nobody is more important than Filipinos."

Morales then pointed out that Marcos became teary-eyed, and he explained that it's because he was "very upset."

"I see people having a hard time, and they don’t deserve it,” he said. "Mabuti kung masamang tao 'yan, dapat parusahan. Hindi naman eh, walang ginawa 'yan kundi magtrabaho, kundi mahalin ang pamilya."

"Ba't mo paparusahan? Para magpayaman ka? That makes no sense to me," he said, without mentioning anyone.

Independent commission to investigate flood control mess

A commission "completely separate from government" is being formed to look into the anomalous flood control projects, per Marcos.

"Wala pong formal name, pero 'yun 'yung binubuo namin," he said, "para imbestigahan ito ngang mga lumalabas na anomalya sa flood control projects.

Marcos refused to give the names of the commission's members yet. "Hindi pa solid talaga, pero malapit na," he said.

According to him, they will give the commission "all the powers that are necessary" for it to come to a conclusion or findings about the issue.

"Para alam naman natin kung ano 'yung nangyari," he added.

Marcos noted that the group can investigate anything or anyone.

"Otherwise... sasabihin may sacred cow na naman o may pinoproteksiyonan," he said.

When asked about the success of the Sumbong sa Pangulo website, where the public can track and report anomalous flood control projects and other possible corrupt practices, he said they've received over 12,000 reports since its launch on Aug. 11.

"Hindi lang ito flood control projects... may mga paving, mga road widening, marami," he said. "That has been very effective. That's why I encourage everybody... pag meron talaga kayong gusto ireklamo, ireklamo ninyo."

In a press briefing during the website's launch, Marcos said there are 9,855 flood control projects totalling P545.64 billion since July 2022. Of that number, 6,021 projects worth over P350 billion don't specify the exact type of flood control being built, while several others in different locations also have the same contract cost.

The issue in the government's flood control projects began in July as the rains triggered massive flooding in the metro. At the time, Sen. Ping Lacson told dzBB that since 2011, about P1 trillion allocated for flood control projects may have been lost to corruption.

Marcos, in his fourth State of the Nation Address, called out government officials involved in the would-be corruption in flood control projects.

Marcos ordered the Department of Public Works and Highways to "immediately submit" to him the list of flood control projects from every region that were started and completed in the last three years. He said a project monitoring committee will evaluate this list to determine the failures, as well as the unfinished and ghost projects.

No regrets being president

Amid such "headaches" over the first half of his term, Morales asked whether Marcos regrets being the president, and he quickly responded, "No."

“Not for one moment," he said. "Because I’m given the opportunity, actually, the privilege, the chance to actually do something. All the things I complained about all my life, now I can do something about them—and that is the greatest privilege that anyone can be granted.”

Marcos was elected the 17th President of the Philippines on May 9, 2022, with over 31 million votes. His landslide win served as the return of another Marcos in Malacañang, nearly four decades since his late dictator father and namesake Ferdinand Marcos was ousted through the EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986.

The administration of Marcos Sr., who imposed martial law in 1972, was marked by human rights abuses and corruption.

According to the World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Marcoses siphoned as much as $10 billion (P568.4 billion) from the government coffers during their two-decade rule.

In 2024, the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan's second division dismissed two ill-gotten wealth cases against former first couple Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile, and businessman Danding Cojuangco as the Presidential Commission on Good Government withdrew the cases.

Civil Case No. 0033-A accused Cojuangco of conspiring with the Marcoses in using the Philippine Coconut Authority and the Coconut Consumers Stabilization Fund to manipulate the acquisition of 72.2% of the First United Bank for personal gain. (The First United Bank was later converted to United Coconut Planters Bank.) Civil Case No. 0033-F, meanwhile, accused Cojuangco and his associates of misusing coconut levy funds to purchase two blocks of San Miguel Corporation shares, violating the funds' real purpose.

In 2019, the Supreme Court dismissed Civil Case No. 0008, which accused the Marcos couple and their cronies of amassing P1.052 billion, P609.27 million of which are shares of stocks and P443.05 million are artwork, clothing, jewelry, and real estate properties.