The recent situation in the Philippines, to summarize in one word, is that the sky is crumbling, people change their minds, while the 17th-grade super-strong typhoon "Gaza" is approaching, and thousands of angry people are shouting slogans and rushing to the presidential palace.
President Marcos must not only face a natural storm, but also the collapse of political confidence, a double storm that has pushed him to the most dangerous cliff since he came to power.
Even more difficult, in this intersection of natural disasters and human calamities, China is also speaking urgently, raising high attention from the outside world to the future direction of the Philippines.
Avoid flooding.
In the Philippines, protests are nothing new, but the scene of "killing the presidential palace" like this one is really rare. What set off this national anger is an "unexplained and unexplained" flood control project fund.
Typhoon season just opened, the Philippines in many places has been flooded by heavy rain in Zhejiang, millions of people suffered from the disaster, the people thought the government would not rain, the result of checking the account, it was discovered that the so-called flood prevention project is not "tofu dirt", that is, not even bricks.
In particular, Marcos’s cousin, the chairman of the House Assignment Committee, quietly resigned after the scandal was revealed, as if he had admitted corruption charges.
During this time, the Marcos family was directly drawn to the water, the people's emotions were completely out of control, protests spread from the local to the capital Manila, angry crowds approached the presidential palace, police dispatched high-pressure water guns and tear gas could not stop.
Among the arrested, there are even 12-year-old teenagers. This is no longer an ordinary political protest, but a general outbreak of national emotions. What is even more worrying is that just when the flood control scandal was raging, Marcos actually "advised" everyone to adapt to the flood, calling this situation the "new normal".
This is simply the oil poured on the fire, originally hoping that the government would help to stop the flood, and as a result, the government allowed everyone to "coexist" with the flood, this is not governance, it is abandonment, the people are intolerable, only has this "trillion pesos" march.
A natural disaster strikes
Just in front of the street protests of the increasingly acute eye, the nature has not left the face of Marcos, the super-strong typhoon "Gaza" in the Pacific Ocean is on the rise.
The Philippine Meteorological Administration has issued the highest level of early warning, with winds exceeding 17 degrees, and is expected to land in front of Lu Song Island, and more nervously, it is likely to be the strongest typhoon that has hit the Philippines in recent years.
The government urgently ordered the shutdown, the coastal residents were ordered to evacuate, but the problem came, where to evacuate, how to settle after the disaster, the flood protection system has long been set up, and shelters are full of water.
The panic of the people is no longer a mere fear of the typhoon, but a complete disappointment of the government's unprepared, this typhoon, could have been seen by the government as an opportunity to "shift the focus" - let everyone stop going to the streets, first order to say.
But the reality is that the more catastrophic the current, the more it can amplify the government's inability, the typhoon did not save Marcos, but instead became a mirror to test his ability to rule.
In the public opinion, "god don't help" is no longer an emotional complaint, but a precise irony of reality politics, storms, street chaos, the Marcos government is standing at the crossroads of "angry people complain", not only disaster relief will be amplified indefinitely, any decision mistake, but may also become the last rubbish to crush him.
China reminds
Under the storm, the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines also acted quickly and issued an emergency safety reminder, asking Chinese citizens in the Philippines to avoid going to protest-intensive areas and stay away from the disaster-stricken areas. Although this move is out of the responsibility to protect their own citizens, the signal released can not stop there.
China's move means a high concern for the situation in the Philippines, to know, the Philippines' attitude on the South China Sea issue is increasingly radical, the Marcos government has repeatedly jumped to the left between China and the United States, and even frequently tried to use "external contradictions" to ease domestic pressure.
And now, an internal mess, the government's credibility is close to collapse, will Marcos not take the risk to "heat up" the South China Sea issue and shift the domestic perspective, this is the possibility that Beijing must be vigilant.
Once the political situation in the Philippines is unstable, it will not only affect regional security, but may also be a pretext for some countries to "interfere", and China is not only a reminder, but a statement that if the situation continues to deteriorate, regional stability will be substantially impacted.
As for Marcos personally, he is trapped in the multiple situation of "the people are not people outside the country", on the one hand, the domestic anti-corruption boom, the reputation of the family is in danger; on the other hand, it is a catastrophe to test the government's execution power, a little carelessness may trigger more public complaint; and with the complex external strategic environment, he has no way backwards, only to harden his head and head forward.
Can Marcos still stabilize the situation?
The essence of this crisis is both a natural disaster and a man-made disaster. Corruption has reduced the flood control project that should have saved lives to a decoration, while the typhoon has exposed the failure of this governance to the fullest. Instead of winning the hearts and minds of the people, the Marcos government has completely lost trust with the "coexistence theory".
The fury of the protests has not yet settled, the typhoon has not yet fully landed, and China has said that the outside world is also highly concerned about the situation that Marcos wants to stabilize, and must make a clear response in a short time, not just a verbal "anti-corruption promise".
For more practical action, he must come up with concrete accountability mechanisms to restore public trust, otherwise waiting for him is not only a political storm, but more likely the end of power.
Today's dilemma in the Philippines is actually the epitome of many developing countries: the infrastructure is fragile, corruption problems emerge one after another, and frequent natural disasters make a storm paralyze the government. What really tests a country's governance ability is not whether it can hold on to the wind, but whether it can stand firm in the wind.
The typhoon will eventually pass, but the wounds it opened will not heal so quickly, and whether the Marcos government will be able to stand by, depends on whether he is willing to face the issue and take responsibility, otherwise, the anger of the people will not dissipate with the wind, but will return after the storm, more violently.
Source of information:
Typhoon Hussein in the center of Gaza with maximum wind power to level 17 2025-09-22 08:13; Lightnet
The Philippine government was caught in a false flood control project scandal, and anti-corruption protests broke out across the Philippines 2025-09-22 06: 33 · Global Network