The senator claimed on Monday that her brother had a cocaine addiction that had impacted his rule and sloppy decision-making.
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The president’s spokesperson, communications undersecretary Claire Castro, dismissed the allegations as being unfounded and described them as repeat accusations that have been refuted for a long time.
Senator Imee told a sizable crowd at a religious organization’s rally in Manila that her brother’s drug use began during Ferdinand Marcos Sr’s presidency, which lasted from 1965 to 1986, and continues to this day.
Without providing evidence, she claimed that the president’s addiction contributed to a “flood of corruption, the lack of direction, and very wrong decisions, as well as the absence of accountability and justice.” She also claimed that the president’s wife and kids were drug users.
Castro criticized the senator for not speaking out against former president Rodrigo Duterte, who has acknowledged past use of fentanyl and who, in the eyes of some, may be connected to corruption along with his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte. Both parties have denied any wrongdoing.
His campaign manager released reports from a private hospital and the national police laboratory that showed Marcos Jr. had a cocaine and methamphetamine test negative results when he was running for president in 2021.
allegations made in connection with the corruption scandal
Imee’s statements have been disregarded by Castro as a distraction from ongoing inquiries into a corruption scandal involving flood control projects that might involve some of her Senate allies.
Sen. Imee, I congratulate you on helping with the investigation your own brother has been conducting, and condemn all those who are corrupt, Castro said. Don’t support or conceal them. Let President Marcos put an end to corruption.
The Marcos administration is looking into allegations of corruption related to phony flood control initiatives that have cost taxpayers billions of pesos. Officials are accused of pocketing payments from contracts to build tens of thousands of flood defenses, many of which were never constructed or were constructed in poor quality.
According to the Department of Finance, corruption in flood control projects will cause the Philippine economy to lose up to 118.5 billion pesos ($2 billion) between 2023 and 2025. According to the nation’s minister of economic planning, up to 70% of the public’s flood control funds may have been lost since the scandal emerged.
The Philippines has experienced more than 20 storms this year, which adds to the crisis. Typhoon Fung-wong, which displaced 1.4 million people and killed 28 others, was most recently responsible for the deaths of at least 269 people in early November, according to Typhoon Kalmaegi.
On Sunday, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Manila to demand accountability from the government, including Marcos’ allies. Hunderts of thousands of people showed up for the three-day rally organized by the influential Philippine religious group Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), which disrupted offices, roads, and schools.
By the end of the year, Marcos has promised that the scandal’s officials would be subject to legal action. There won’t be a happy Christmas for them, he declared.
In 2022, the INC had supported Marcos and Sara Duterte’s candidacies. The INC has since switched its support to Duterte, the vice president, following a disagreement between Marcos and Sara Duterte.
Nearly 100 days after the inquiry began, no notable arrests have been made despite the formation of a panel to look into alleged corruption. The crackdown was seen by Marcos as part of a wider effort for accountability and transparency, which his father’s father was accused of having experienced.
Source: Aljazeera
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