The accusations from his estranged sister come because the Philippine president faces a corruption scandal over flood-control initiatives.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has rejected accusations by his estranged sister, Senator Imee Marcos, that he has been a long-term drug person, at a time when the nation is witnessing mass protests towards corruption.
On Monday, the senator alleged that her brother had developed a cocaine dependency that affected his governance, contributing to corruption and poor decision-making.
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Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro, the president’s spokesperson, dismissed the claims as baseless, describing them as recycled accusations which have lengthy been disproved.
Chatting with a big crowd at a Manila park rally organised by a spiritual group, Senator Imee stated her brother’s drug use started throughout the presidency of their father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr — who dominated from 1965 to 1986 — and continues to today.
With out offering proof, she claimed the president’s dependancy grew to become the reason for a “flood of corruption, the dearth of route and really flawed choices, the absence of accountability and justice”. She additionally alleged that the president’s spouse and kids have been concerned in drug use.
Castro criticised the senator for not addressing former President Rodrigo Duterte, who has acknowledged previous fentanyl use and, based on critics, could also be linked to corruption alongside together with his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte. Each have denied wrongdoing.
When Marcos Jr was campaigning for the presidency in 2021, his spokesperson launched experiences from a non-public hospital and the nationwide police laboratory exhibiting he examined destructive for cocaine and methamphetamine.
Allegations amid corruption scandal
Castro has labelled Imee’s statements as a distraction from ongoing investigations right into a corruption scandal involving flood management initiatives that will implicate a few of her Senate allies.
“Sen Imee, I hope you’ll be a patriot and assist in the investigation that your personal brother has been doing and condemn all of the corrupt,” Castro stated. “Don’t aspect with them, don’t cover them. Let President Marcos work to cease all of the corruption.”
Marcos’s administration is investigating alleged corruption linked to ghost flood-control initiatives that price taxpayers billions of pesos. Officers are accused of pocketing kickbacks from contracts to assemble 1000’s of flood defences, a lot of which have been both made with substandard supplies or by no means constructed.
The Division of Finance estimates that the Philippine economic system misplaced as much as 118.5 billion pesos ($2bn) from 2023 to 2025 resulting from corruption in flood-control initiatives. The nation’s financial planning minister has stated as much as 70 % of public flood-control funds might have been misplaced for the reason that scandal surfaced.
The disaster comes because the Philippines has confronted greater than 20 storms this yr. Most just lately, Hurricane Kalmaegi killed no less than 269 in early November, adopted days later by Hurricane Fung-wong, displacing 1.4 million individuals and killing 28.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Manila on Sunday, demanding accountability from authorities, together with allies of Marcos. The three-day rally organised by the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), or Church of Christ – a strong Philippine non secular group – drew a whole bunch of 1000’s of contributors and disrupted colleges, roads, and places of work.
Marcos has promised that officers concerned within the scandal would face authorized motion by the top of the yr. “They’ll be jailed – there’s no merry Christmas for them,” he stated.
The INC had endorsed the candidacies of Marcos and Sara Duterte in 2022. Nonetheless, after a falling-out between Marcos and Sara Duterte, the INC has shifted its help in direction of Duterte, the vp.
Regardless of organising a panel to analyze alleged corruption, no notable arrests have been made almost 100 days into the inquiry. Marcos, whose father confronted accusations of widespread corruption, framed the crackdown as a part of a broader marketing campaign for transparency and accountability.
A latest ballot from the social analysis institute Social Climate Stations, nevertheless, indicated that greater than 80 % of Metro Manila residents imagine corruption has worsened below Marcos’s administration.
