17,000 police deployed as protests erupt in Philippines over flood control scam

Thousands massed in the Philippine capital of Manila on Sunday demanding accountability over a multibillion-dollar infrastructure scandal that has seen scores of officials, lawmakers and construction firm owners accused of corruption.

Rage over so-called ghost flood control projects has been mounting for months in the archipelago country of 116 million, where entire towns have been buried in floodwaters driven by powerful typhoons in recent months.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has seen friend and foe alike, including a congressman cousin, swept up by the spiralling scandal since he first put the issue centre stage in a July national address.

“Put them in jail now!” protesters chanted as they marched down the Manila thoroughfare known as EDSA, site of the People Power Movement that helped oust Marcos’ father from power in 1986.

Ranking church officials in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation separately held mass at the site.

“Let us unite in repentance for corruption in our society,” said Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. “We need a moral and spiritual reset if we want a brighter future for the Philippines.”