Rebuilding trust

Since the outbreak of the flood control scandal and the disclosure of corruption on a grand scale, public trust in government has fallen. Its impact on the economy is beginning to be felt. The economic impact will only grow as the war in Iran stretches on.

In a December 2025 Pulse Asia survey, 94 percent said that corruption was widespread in government, while 71 percent felt it was “very widespread.” The top three examples of corruption were identified as bribery, misuse of public funds, and kickbacks in contracts. At least 74 percent said that the level of corruption had increased over the last year, while 19 percent said that it had stayed the same.

In the Corruption Perceptions Index 2025, the Philippines dropped to No. 120 out of 182 countries, its lowest rank ever. It ranked 85th in 2014.

In the meantime, gross domestic product growth in 2025 dropped to 4.4 percent—our weakest performance in five years. Foreign direct investments dropped by 22 percent from January to November 2025, while Board of Investment approvals saw a 48-percent decline. Low growth was attributed to reduced government spending (this in spite of government fund releases for public infrastructure projects), weak capital formation, and lower household consumption. The irony is that even as billions of pesos were released for infrastructure projects, so much was skimmed off or disappeared into ghost projects that there has been less spending, less job creation, and less money flowing into workers’ hands to fuel household spending.

The church, business, and civil society groups have been discussing methods to address corruption by looking for ways to build in controls and transparency.

The first is a bill to create an Independent People’s Commission to investigate all anomalies in government infrastructure projects by strengthening transparency, accountability, and public participation in infrastructure spending. It is intended to replace the Independent Commission for Infrastructure as an ad hoc body. A bill pending in Congress will give this new commission stronger investigative, enforcement, coordination, policy, and reform powers. The commission will also have access to bank, financial, and tax records and granted protection against restraining orders. Special prosecution teams will also be set up by the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice to support the Commission’s investigations.

The second proposal is to pass the Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability, or Cadena Act, by using blockchain technology to create a single, official, and publicly accessible digital portal for all public budget data. The system should be tamper-resistant, interoperable, and designed to connect and exchange information across different systems, with data released in a structured form that enables processing, analysis, and comparison. The objective is to create a tamper-proof ledger of records that allows independent verification by anyone and provides a permanent audit trail. We can start with a few departments and some priority projects to test this new system.

The third proposal is to pass an antidynasty law as provided in the Constitution. Dynasties have a firm grip on Philippine politics. Eight of 10 in the House of Representatives come from political dynasties. The Senate has at least four sets of siblings. Seventy-one of 82 governors come from political dynasties, and 113 of 149 mayors are from political families. Studies have shown a high correlation between dynasties and low economic development. The level of collusion during the flood control scandal is a good indication of what can happen when dynasties and contractors act in concert with each other.

The fourth proposal is to amend the party list system. Originally envisioned to give marginalized and underrepresented sectors access to Congress, this system has been bent out of shape. Marginalized groups used to mean peasant organizations, urban poor, multisectoral organizations, and other similar groups. The party list category has been penetrated by political parties and dynasties themselves, giving traditional politicians a firmer grip on the political system and access to more public money. This must be amended back to reflect its original spirit.

And finally, all are asking about the status of cases in the flood control scandal. The public was promised that charges would be filed and perpetrators would be imprisoned before the end of 2025 and eventually brought to trial. Few have been charged, and the public feels that many politicians are being protected. Unless this issue is resolved, the government will continue to lose the trust of the public. That loss of trust will have negative repercussions on the economy and on people’s lives. The responsibility for making these changes lies with our national leaders. It is the responsibility of the national leadership to align with the people, strike back against corruption, and rebuild trust in government.