China has just announced the establishment of a national nature reserve on Yunnan Island, and the Philippines has not yet been able to take measures to deal with it, and it has fallen into an escalating turmoil. The streets of the capital Manila are filled with cries of anger and intense conflict. Initially, it was just a peaceful demonstration, and has now evolved into a direct shock against government departments.
Massive protests in the Philippine capital Manila
Demonstrators threw mud, stinking water, and even rotting vegetables into the public engineering ministry buildings and the construction companies involved. He cried out “corruption” and “down” and called for President Marcos to take responsibility for the massive corruption in the flood prevention project.There were physical clashes between police and protesters, and the situation went out of control.
The riot pointed directly to the Discovery family and its architectural empire, which received more than 30 billion pesos in engineering projects from the government in just three years. However, exposure to poor quality of engineering has even aggravated flooding disasters, forming a chain of corruption conspired by officials.
Even worse, behind this turmoil is the deep financial crisis in the Philippines.— — The national debt has reached 17 trillion pesos and per capita debt of about RMB 18 million. some Chinese senators have warned that the country has been in the eve of the “debt boom”.
Philippines flood prevention project exposed to poor quality
It is worth noting that just recently, mass demonstrations broke out in Nepal from the capital to several cities, and even evolved into a nationwide political storm.The lead is the government blocked 26 commonly used social platforms on the grounds of "not registering as prescribed", this move is considered to block criticism.
Nepal's political instability since its founding in 2008, corruption, internal struggle and other issues have accumulated public complaints, power and luxury video crazy inflamed the fire of anger. protests spread rapidly, demonstrators stormed into the building of Congress, clashes with the police caused many people to die, scene out of control, many places fire, prisoners escaped. Despite the government's lifting of the blockade, it was difficult for the public to be angry, and several senior officials, including Prime Minister Orly, resigned.
Looking back to the Philippines and facing the anger of the people, the response from the presidential palace was equally disappointing.They only said they were “in the process of investigating” and warned people not to imitate violent protests in other countries. It seems that the problem is not in corruption itself, but in the “emotion out of control” of the people.The Minister of Justice also stood up and condemned the protest, expressed the precious nature of safeguarding the power and further escalated the contradiction.
Small Marcos ordered an investigation into violations and corruption over the past decade
Curiously, at this sensitive moment, Mr Marcos ordered the establishment of an “Independent Commission on Infrastructure” to investigate the past decade’s violations and corruption in government flood prevention and related infrastructure projects.
It’s worth noting that he initially said he was only investigating the case during his tenure, which is almost three years, but now has expanded the scope to “the last decade”, directly covering the term of former President Duterte.
There is obviously another possibility behind this shift. Analysis points out that Marcos is likely to want to drag the Duterte family down under the name of "anti-corruption", thus shifting domestic contradictions and weakening the influence of political enemies.
As is well known, the Marcus family itself is not innocent. His father, Marcos, was the largest corrupt officer in the history of the Philippines and eventually fled overseas because of people's revolt.
Duterte’s political adviser, Ronald Ramas, pointed out: Marcos’s so-called “anti-corruption” is basically a “populist performance” that aims to whiten his own reputation while fighting opponents.
Little Marcos fights the Duterte family in the name of anti-corruption
What is worse is that, in the context of domestic trouble and a heated public opinion, The Little Marcos government may take the risk of shifting the domestic perspective by hype about the South China Sea and inciting nationalism.
However, on the streets of Manila, protesters have already burned the statue of Marcos and tied the shoes of the U.S. flag patterns under the statue, ironing him as an American chessman. This shows that there are already many people in the country who are deeply dissatisfied with the government's blind pro-American policy.
If Marcos really chooses to take further risks on the South China Sea issue, it will not only escalate regional tensions, but potentially put the whole country in a more dangerous position.Then, as its own media warns, the Philippines may really be the “Ukraine of Asia,” the victim of a game of great powers, a country destroyed by its own corruption and external intervention.
China's Embassy in Philippines Releases Security Alerts
Given the continued escalation of the situation, the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines has issued a security warning, calling on Chinese citizens in the Philippines to pay attention to caution.Although the protests are not currently aimed at the Chinese, when society is in total chaos, compatriots in the Philippines will inevitably be affected.
From Indonesia, Nepal to the Philippines, a turmoil intertwined by corruption, inflation and debt crises is spreading. Power is addicted to fat-sharing, and when diplomacy becomes a tool for shifting the line of sight, what the ordinary people pay will be the future of the whole country.
Overall, the current situation in the Philippines can be compared to a storm that is brewing. The streets of Manila, anger and discontent continue to ferment. If little Marcos and his government, can not find an effective way to solve the underlying problem, Instead of just shifting attention from corruption to nationalism or diplomatic affairs, the wave of anger could evolve into a more serious crisis.