The Philippines’ “biggest corruption scandal” in history continues to rivet Filipinos as whistle-blowers implicate a slew of top officials, with the unfolding saga threatening to drag even the president into its 545 billion peso (US$9.4 billion) embrace.
On Thursday, Filipinos in Metro Manila – from taxi drivers to building lobby receptionists and security guards – were spotted with their mobile phones tuned in to the Senate’s eight-hour hearing on the so-called ghost flood projects. In one dental office, an aide told This Week in Asia: “Sorry, there’s no music. Other patients requested to tune in to the hearings instead.”
The live-streamed hearing drew some 2.7 million listeners across four channels, with about 847,000 people watching on the normally ignored official Senate YouTube account.
Those implicated so far by various former public works officials-turned-whistle-blowers comprise: the president’s top aide Lucas Bersamin; the president’s cousin, newly resigned house speaker Martin Romualdez; his just-resigned public works secretary Manuel Bonoan and the latter’s daughter; the newly resigned Senate president Francis Escudero; senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva; 17 congressmen and at least 26 other senior public works officials.
They have either stayed silent or denied wrongdoing.
