Flooded by Corruption, Crushed by Repression: The Reality of Marcos Jr.’s Third Year
This marks the third year since the two monarchs of bureaucrat capitalism – Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte – assumed office. They initially presented themselves as allies of “change,” but in the end, the masses were caught in the factional struggles of two rival ruling elites. It is clear that they serve no one but their own self-interests, firmly bound to the dictates of U.S. imperialism.
Since Marcos Jr. assumed office in 2022, the country’s debt has ballooned dramatically. As of June 2022, national debt stood at ₱12.79 trillion; by October 2025, it had surged to ₱17.6 trillion. This massive foreign borrowing under the Marcos Jr. administration reflects the expansion of pork barrel allocations in the national budget and the proliferation of unprogrammed appropriations – both highly prone to corruption. These funds skyrocketed from ₱251 billion in 2022 to ₱807 billion in 2023, ₱731.5 billion in 2024, and ₱531.7 billion in 2025.
While the Filipino people are submerged in floods caused by rotten governance, the corruption of the Marcos regime has been laid bare through defective and anomalous flood control projects. These projects were approved under budgets personally sanctioned by Marcos Jr., in collusion with contractors and other bureaucrat capitalists. Many of these are ghost projects or remain unfinished. According to IBON, flood control budgets reached historic highs – ₱283.2 billion in 2023, ₱352.8 billion in 2024, and ₱350.5 billion in 2025 – yet flooding and devastation continue unabated.
At the same time, budgets for critical social services such as education, healthcare, and agricultural support have been slashed, while pork barrel allocations for the executive and legislative branches continue to increase. The Makabayan Bloc estimates that pork allocations in the proposed 2026 national budget could reach ₱695.8 billion. As 2026 approaches, the crisis will only deepen under a system still dominated by corruption and elite rule.
The Marcos Jr. regime insists that the economy is “stable,” but this claim is completely detached from the lived realities of the Filipino people. Unemployment continues to rise, with over 300,000 workers losing their jobs and 60,000 newly unemployed. Wages remain extremely low across regions – averaging ₱487 per day – far below the estimated ₱1,225 daily family living wage required for a decent and dignified life.
Due to the lack of decent livelihoods, the number of Filipinos who identify themselves as poor has increased to 14.2 million as of September 2025, up from 12.2 million at the start of the administration. As hunger and poverty worsen, the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen. The big comprador bourgeoisie and bureaucrat capitalists gorge themselves on public funds. Despite the Marcos couple declaring a net worth of ₱389.357 million in their 2024 SALN, appraisal reports show that the actual market value of their assets reaches ₱1.375 billion. Meanwhile, Vice President Duterte declared a net worth of ₱88.512 million as of December 31, 2024 – up from ₱71.058 million in June 2022 – consisting largely of real and personal properties. At the same time, the combined wealth of the country’s richest capitalists, such as the Razon and Villar families, reached ₱1.3 trillion from 2022 to 2025.
This deepening crisis has also intensified fascism. As public anger grows over widespread corruption and exploitation, protests have surged nationwide. The regime’s response to the people’s outrage has been violence and repression. The Marcos regime has implemented the National Action Plan for Unity, Peace, and Development (NAP-UPD) in coordination with the NTF-ELCAC as part of its counterinsurgency program.
According to data from KARAPATAN, from June 2022 to November 2025, there have been 134 cases of extrajudicial killings, 822 cases of arbitrary arrest, 70 incidents of indiscriminate firing, 48 cases of enforced disappearance, 577 cases of forced or fake surrender, 156 incidents of indiscriminate bombing, and 10,824 documented cases of threats, harassment, and intimidation. As of November 2025, 696 political prisoners remain incarcerated, 163 of whom were arrested under the Marcos Jr. administration.
It is also alarming how Marcos Jr. continues to subjugate the Philippines to U.S. interests. The country is being dragged into U.S. war-mongering against China, with the stockpiling of military equipment and the opening of facilities for U.S. war operations under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
Fascism and corruption under the Marcos Jr. regime are expected to intensify further. These conditions make it even more urgent to continue the struggle – to expose and oppose the regime’s neoliberal policies, reject U.S. imperialist intervention, and defend Philippine sovereignty.
With massive poverty coupled with lack of basic social services, systematic corruption in the government, intensifying and wanton human rights violations and subservient of Marcos regime to US dictates and interest. The Filipino people have all the reason to call for the resignation of Marcos Jr and Sara Duterte. Change the corrupt and unjust system that serves the interest of the few and powerful to truly a humane and just societal order that prioritises the interest and human rights of the ordinary Filipinos.
APCHRP will continue to stand in solidarity with the Filipino people in their struggle for a just and humane society.
