The past year ended with a whimper. The public pressure brought to bear on the administration to produce results in assorted inquiries into the corruption scandal did not amount to much (and now requires recalibration). To be sure, due process takes time (in these parts, too long a time). But with the huge amounts of stolen money bandied about, and the bold promise of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his officials that people of privilege implicated in the plunder would be spending the holidays behind bars, the expectation of even partial resolution was naturally high.
So that the new year began with a sense of frustration sharpened by the steadily rising prices of food and fuel and the increasing number of Filipinos who consider themselves “nouveau poor” (an accurate term, no longer cute). Frustration is not a good thing with which to mark a period traditionally seen as a new beginning; perhaps it’s one reason many Filipinos risk their lives (and others’) on New Year’s Eve, keeping faith in the stupidity that firecrackers sufficiently potent to kill or maim will save them.
Message in the active voice
But frustration also gives rise to a fresh perspective and resultant possibilities, and indeed the Ibon Foundation’s “Bird Talk Yearstarter 2026” held last Jan. 23 was titled “From Frustration to Action”—a message in the active voice and a call to understand the structural weaknesses that have long plagued the economy and that must be addressed with the same urgency as political crises.
The situationer by the nonprofit organization devoted to research, education, and information development offered a context within which concerned Filipinos may view such current events as the impeachment complaints against the President and the latest plunder complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte—a “disruption” to the daily grind that those whose interests are served by the status quo have had the gall to dismiss as unhelpful and literally nothing that would feed the hungry poor: Hindi naman makakain yan.
Said Ibon: “More than fearing the disruption caused by holding top officials to account, the government should be alarmed by the longstanding distress of people from poverty, joblessness, and lack of basic services, while a few live in luxury and comfort. More than courting investor confidence, it is the confidence of small producers, workers, and communities who actually build the economy that must be earned.”
Month of beginnings
Bayan Muna is unimpressed by the hindi makakain yan argument and has served notice that it will file another impeachment complaint against the Vice President in February, when the yearlong ban lapses. Incredibly, as though he were talking to idiots, Duterte lawyer Michael Poa has been reported as saying that with the Supreme Court’s recent unanimous vote upholding its July 2025 ruling that the Vice President’s impeachment was unconstitutional, “the matter is now closed” and the nation “should then move on to address…other pressing concerns.”
In fact the matter is not closed; the high court’s 13-0 vote voids Duterte’s impeachment on technical issues but does not clear her of the charges: betrayal of public trust, violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption and other high crimes including the questionable disbursement of more than ₱600 million in confidential funds. The accusations are unchanged even as the Veep, bundled up in the cold, again holds court in The Hague where her father has been deemed fit for trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and is awaiting the confirmation of charges late in February.
The Palace through its press officer, Undersecretary Claire Castro, has described the impeachment complaints against the President as an attack on the administration, which, she says, will nevertheless allow the process to take its course.
The process starts on Feb. 2, per Batangas (2nd district) Rep. Gerville Luistro, when her committee on justice examines the two complaints referred to it on Jan. 26—one filed by lawyer Andre de Jesus and endorsed by Pusong Pinoy Rep. Jett Nisay, and the other filed by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and endorsed by ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio, Gabriela Rep. Sarah Elago and Kabataan Rep. Renee Co—for form and substance.
The first complaint was filed in connection with, among others, the supposed kidnapping and surrender of Rodrigo Duterte to the ICC, Mr. Marcos’ alleged drug addiction, and his alleged involvement in kickbacks and budget insertions in flood control projects.
Ex-Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, one of those who filed the second complaint, said the President should explain under oath the “BBM (or baseline, balanced, managed) formula” drawn up by then Public Works Undersecretary Catalina Cabral and that supposedly governed the Department of Public Works and Highways’ budget for infrastructure. Cabral died from a fall in Benguet last December, extinguishing a direct line to an official central to the workings of the multibillion-peso corruption scandal that demonstrates how a cabal of government officials and private contractors can so easily loot public resources.
3% growth
Meanwhile, as though on script in this country where, as Ibon executive director Sonny Africa observed, two-thirds of work is mostly poorly paying work, authorities announced that GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2025 dropped to 3% from 3.9% in the third quarter.
“It’s not a disaster” is Finance Secretary Frederick Go’s pronouncement. In Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan’s estimation, the “main” source of the growth slowdown is weakened consumer and business confidence resulting from the corruption scandal.
Like Go, Balisacan thinks restoring confidence is key.
But here is the “deeper problem,” according to Ibon: “the persistence of neoliberal economic policies that fail to develop domestic agriculture and manufacturing, while enabling service- and utilities-driven profits for a narrow elite amid the plunder of public resources.”
“Growth is propped up by foreign investments and overseas workers’ remittances, instead of building productive capacity at home,” it said.
‘Ripe’ for change
The time is “ripe for democratic systemic change,” said Ibon Research editor Rosario Guzman.
Last December, the seasoned accountant Rossana Fajardo quit her post at the Independent Commission for Infrastructure organized by executive order to look into the corruption scandal. One imagines that she came away from that engagement with many discoveries, and indeed she spoke about these nuggets at a recent gathering of the Philippine Business for Social Progress.
In brief, per the SyCip Gorres Velayo & Co. country managing partner: Systems and controls are in place at the DPWH. The officials and politicians behind the modus operandi for the flood-control kickbacks are “very smart.” There’s no way these systems and controls will be followed “if values are not there, or are misplaced.”
Disheartening is Fajardo’s considered opinion on the enormousness of the task at hand: “If you want to correct government or correct corruption, then it would take several lifetimes, because then you would probably need to take out everyone who is part of the system.”
She said Filipinos need “to be more demanding [and] more outspoken, and to bring our concerns to the right people, institutions, personalities who can be a voice and really restore integrity and accountability in government.”
Organizers have announced plans for the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Edsa People Power uprising on Feb. 25—an occasion that acquires more meaning in the current context.
“More than ever,” the organizers said, “we need to be reminded of people power as a weapon against tyranny and a means to achieve genuine democracy, including transparency and accountability in governance.”
Despair dims, or should. Though faltering, hope springs. CS
Read more: 2nd plunder complaint filed against VP Duterte, this time by Trillanes and civil society group
