The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) condemns the cases of corruption that are being exposed by investigations into the government’s flood control projects. Corruption related to these projects, amounting to billions of pesos, harms Filipino workers in many ways.

Reports show that out of the P545 billion spent by the government on flood control projects since 2022, around P100 billion went to only 15 contractors who are close to politicians. Irregularities mar more than 6,000 projects amounting to P350 billion, while Sen. Panfilo Lacson claims that around half of the P2 trillion spent by the government on flood control projects in the past 15 years went to corruption.

First of all, heavy flooding harms Filipino workers and people, as it damages their hard-earned homes and properties. It makes the streets and roads dangerous, posing direct threats to the safety, health and lives of workers when they go to work, as well as of poor Filipinos.

Second, corruption reduces government capacity to uphold workers’ rights. Workplace inspections, which ensure that the government knows the actual state of workers’ labor rights, have for years been heavily underfunded. This has created a culture of impunity in labor rights violations among employers. The billions of pesos pocketed by big politicians and business contractors should have been spent on increasing labor inspectors.

The billions of pesos lost to corruption could have also been used to increase the capacity of the country’s labor and criminal courts to dispatch cases. Workers wait more than seven years before rulings on illegal termination are released. Political prisoners from the labor movement wait more than five years before patently trumped-up charges are junked.

Third, corruption further reduces the coverage and quality of social services and social protection provided by the government to workers. Workers still have to beg legislators for guarantee letters for payments when they and their family members are hospitalized. Government hospitals sorely need to upgrade their facilities and increase the salaries of health workers.

We therefore call on the entire Ferdinand Marcos Jr government to hold into account the biggest politicians and businesses that are involved in corruption. While the Discayas now serve as the faces of the corruption in flood control projects, government investigation and accountability should go beyond them.

We express our support for various forms of protests that are being held and planned to express outrage over corruption in flood control projects. We call on Filipino workers to participate in these protests as they are the victims of corruption. In many ways than one, the perpetrators of these crimes are stealing from the Filipino workers and people.

#KurakotManagot