President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Sunday denied that his administration is applying selective justice in the investigation and legal actions related to the flood control mess, even as he questioned why he was being blamed when he was the one who exposed the irregularities.
In an interview with the media before leaving Canada, Marcos said he first exposed the anomalies during his 2025 State of the Nation Address and ordered immediate investigations regardless of who would be affected or implicated.
The President said the probe has already led to the arrest of some individuals and the freezing of assets.
He said it would not make sense for him to order an investigation and allow the arrest of those involved if he had been benefiting from the flood control mess.
“Sasabihin, ako daw ang may kagagawan. Eh kung talagang racket ko yun, ba’t ko sisiraan yung racket ko? Diba? That makes absolutely no sense (They’ll say, I’m the one who did it. Well, if it’s really my racket, why would I ruin my racket? Right? That makes absolutely no sense),” Marcos said.
Marcos said his administration will continue its campaign against corruption, adding that there is still more to uncover and more work to be done to institute structural reforms and change the culture in government.
He said the investigation has also exposed irregularities that happened before he assumed the presidency.
According to the President, the pattern of alleged anomalies could be traced back to 2017 and 2018. He said that while the issue had been acknowledged at the time, accountability was not established.
“I cannot say that we have done enough because we are not done yet. Unfortunately, the more we look, the more we find. And it is going already back beyond my administration, beyond my term,” he said.
“As I said, the more we look, the more we investigate, the more we find…You know this is a deep-seated system of corruption that requires not only structural changes in the way government is run, in the way the budget is written, but also a change in attitude,” Marcos added.
In response to allegations that the corruption issue is being used against critics of the administration, Marcos reiterated that there is no selective justice.
The President said that since the creation of an independent commission to investigate the flood-control mess, he had made it clear that investigators would “just follow the evidence.”
The President formed the Independent Commission for Infrastructure after his “Mahiya Naman Kayo” SONA last year to investigate corruption in flood control projects over the past 10 years.
The ICI’s findings and recommendations were submitted to the Department of Justice and the Office of the Ombudsman, contributing to the filing of several charges against several individuals, including some lawmakers, over their alleged links to the flood-control mess.
Marcos reiterated that his administration remains committed to pursuing accountability and implementing reforms to strengthen transparency and integrity in government.