Recently, the Philippines has endured a triple crisis: devastating floods, entrenched corruption, and dynastic politics. Each reinforces the other in a cycle that has reduced governance to chaos and dysfunction.
Flood-control corruption alone costs billions annually, driven by collusion among Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) engineers, contractors, and politicians for personal gain. From 2023 to 2025, Senator Panfilo Lacson revealed the flood control budget had ballooned to ₱1.9 trillion, exceeding the total allocation of the previous twelve years combined. Obscured by widespread infrastructure collapse during the 2025 typhoons, this massive budget increase triggered investigations that implicated contractors, DPWH officials, and legislators alike.
Pork Barrel Anomaly
The last three bars reflect sharp budget increases driven by congressional insertions into the National Expenditure Program (NEP). The first accounts for roughly half the total, as traced in the analysis by VERA Files columnist Tita C. Valderama. Politicians have profited most from this amendment method, historically using it to extract kickbacks from favored contractors and funnel public funds privately through insider collusion. The anomaly was exposed in 2025.
Another anomaly exposed was the “allocables,” a type of pork barrel. Though this practice was outlawed in 2013 (PDAF) and 2014 (DAP) by the Supreme Court, this new pork barrel, says Guinevere Latoza of PCIJ, has cleverly mutated into a more insidious form hidden in the DPWH budget. These sources of corruption are described as follows:
Congressional “Insertions”: Flood Control Projects or funding added/modified during congressional committee deliberations. This refers to the practice of powerful politicians secretly altering the NEP’s budget to benefit their districts or constituents.
Direct “Allocables”: pork barrel-like allocations to lawmaker districts that are already integrated into the NEP, determined by Undersecretary Catalina Cabral’s formula. These are budgetary distributions usually made to favored legislators.
To be fair, insertions and allocables are not inherently evil. In many instances, these funds yield tangible results: roads and bridges are constructed, dikes and water pumps are installed, and multipurpose halls rise at the barangay level. Yet, some corrupt officials dip their fingers into the process, from awarding rigged contracts to demanding a fixed percentage of the project costs.
The tragic effects of this systemic plunder are substandard, overpriced infrastructure. Worse are “ghost projects”—anomalies in which nothing was built, yet the budget was fully spent.
Dynastic Warfare
Dynastic infighting paralyzes critical public functions like flood control, driving systemic failures that cripple the country’s economic standing and foreign investment. Highlighting this decline, Transparency International’s 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks the Philippines as the third most corrupt nation in Southeast Asia.
Entrenched corruption and dynastic politics impede political progress. Although many dynasties are criticized for nepotism and conflicts of interest, some have demonstrated effective local governance.
Philippine politics is visibly dominated by political dynasties, exemplified by the country’s rulers: the Marcoses and the Dutertes. Though explicitly prohibited by the 1987 Constitution, the practice persists as if political dynasties were normal. Consider this landscape, partly painted by Sheila Coronel of Columbia University:
The Senate: Thirteen or over half (four pairs are siblings) of the 24 Senators belong to family dynasties. Meaning, they have close, currently elected relatives (up to 3rd degree).
The House: Eight out of every ten legislators are members of political dynasties.
Local Government: Seventy-one out of 82 provincial governors are from these families.
Rival dynasties routinely attempt to eliminate one another to monopolize power. Some keep the economic spoils within their immediate bloodlines. While Congress now attempts to pass an enabling law to limit family dominance, the political system seems not ready for the change.
The Impeachment Spectacle
Nowhere is this dynastic warfare more vivid than in the current move to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte. To the objective analyst, the proceedings read less like a genuine pursuit of constitutional accountability and more like a high-stakes clan war. Analysts warn that amid this power struggle, ordinary Filipinos remain the ultimate losers, governed by self-serving dynasties regardless of which family flag prevails.
Supporters of the Vice President argue that the impeachment’s ulterior motive is political. That is, to permanently bar her from running for president in 2028, where polls consistently position her as the strongest contender.
The Elusive Big Fish
The corruption scandal reaches the very top. Eighteen former soldiers have corroborated testimony that maleta-maleta (suitcases holding ₱40+ million each) were delivered to residences linked to contractor Zaldy Co, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Co himself alleged on video that ₱56 billion in kickbacks flowed directly to the nation’s highest leaders, with the President purportedly receiving a cut from ₱100 billion in illicit budget insertions.
Whether these allegations reflect truth or “politicking” is for an impartial and independent investigation to determine. The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, chaired by Senator Lacson, adopted a restrained approach. When Speaker Romualdez ignored invitations to testify, Lacson invoked “inter-parliamentary courtesy” rather than compel his appearance.
Eight months later, Lacson released a partial committee report that fell just two senatorial signatures short of endorsement. Senator Rodante Marcoleta dismissed Senator Panfilo Lacson’s committee report as incomplete, arguing that it failed to present the full picture and that it should be “impartial.”
Senate Rigodon
The Senate’s balance of power shifted on May 11. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, under ICC scrutiny, backed Senator Alan Peter Cayetano. With this support, Cayetano unseated Senate President Vicente Sotto III and formed a fragile 13-member majority.
The leadership change had major consequences. Control of the powerful Blue Ribbon Committee went to Cayetano’s group. They focused on alleged irregularities in flood-control programs and prepared for Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial. The committee’s renewed focus on accountability raised political tensions.
On June 3, Cayetano’s Senate majority faced a big challenge. Three events weakened his coalition: Senator dela Rosa went into hiding; Senator Jinggoy Estrada was arrested on plunder charges; and Senator Chiz Escudero defected to Sotto’s bloc. When the Cayetano majority was absent for two days, the 12 minority members, led by Sherwin Gatchalian, staged a coup, electing him Senate President Pro Tempore. They also installed a new Sergeant-at-Arms and Senate Secretary. Gatchalian’s group declared itself the new majority, citing the 1949 Avelino vs. Cuenco case (G.R. No. L-2821).
Is the “power grab” valid? Several questions surround the new majority’s legitimacy. While Cayetano remains Senate President, Gatchalian allegedly began acting as Senate President, issuing instructions to Senate staff and exercising those powers. His group claimed majority status with just 12 members, arguing this constituted a majority. However, the 1987 Constitution and Senate rules both require 13 senators for a majority of ALL 24 members (24 ÷ 2 + 1 = 13). Critics argue that the 12-member majority claim conflicts with these requirements. The election of the Senate officers is also covered by such a ruling.
The 12-member quorum argument also has some issues. It makes reference to the 1935 Constitution, which has been superseded by the 1987 Constitution. The Supreme Court nonetheless upheld the proceedings conducted by the 12 senators, treating them as a continuation of the morning session with 20 members present rather than an entirely new session. Full ruling: https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1949/mar1949/gr_l-2821_1949.html
Wrapping Up
In sum, the Senate’s own house remains in disorder: a fragile leadership threatened Cayetano through a counter-coup by 12 senators who installed Gatchalian as Acting Senate President. But stakes extend far beyond Senate politics. Every peso lost to corruption diminishes the nation’s capacity to shield communities from recurring floods. Until budget loopholes are closed, dynastic power is checked, and accountability is enforced, millions of Filipinos will continue to remain hostage to both natural calamities and systemic political failure.
DR. FEDERICO V. MAGDALENA is an Associate Specialist and the Assistant Director of the Center for Philippine Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He is a Contributing Writer to Hawaiʻi Filipino Chronicle.
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