"Thousands of protesters have gathered in the Philippine capital, Manila, angered over a corruption scandal involving flood control projects that are believed to have cost billions of dollars. With organisers hoping to draw one of the largest turnouts of anticorruption protests in the country on Sunday, police and troops were put on alert to prevent any possible outbreak of violence."
"Anger has been mounting over the so-called ghost infrastructure projects since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr highlighted the scandal in July during his annual State of the Nation speech. Marcos later established an independent commission to investigate what he referred to as anomalies in many of the 9,855 flood-control projects that were worth more than 545 billion pesos ($9.5bn)."
"I feel bad that we wallow in poverty and we lose our homes, our lives and our future while they rake in a big fortune from our taxes that pay for their luxury cars, foreign trips and bigger corporate transactions, student activist Althea Trinidad told The Associated Press news agency. We want to shift to a system where people will no longer be abused."
Thousands of protesters gathered in Manila, waving flags and demanding prosecution over alleged corruption in flood-control projects. Organisers hoped for one of the largest anticorruption turnouts, and police and troops were placed on alert to prevent violence. Anger grew after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr highlighted anomalies in 9,855 flood-control projects valued at more than 545 billion pesos ($9.5bn), and an independent commission was established to investigate. Protesters carried banners reading "No more, too much, jail them" and voiced frustration over poverty and officials allegedly enriching themselves. The demonstrations echoed regional unrest in Indonesia over police violence, lawmakers' pay, and inflation.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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