There are moments in government when the people deserve an explanation.
And then there are moments when government itself seems to be asking the people to explain why they should still trust it.

The proposed 2027 national budget may be one of those moments.

After the flood-control scandal exploded into one of the biggest corruption controversies of the Marcos administration, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. stood before the nation and promised action. He exposed supposedly anomalous projects. He ordered investigations. He talked about ghost projects, questionable contractors and billions of pesos that may have been wasted or stolen.

The anger of Filipinos was unmistakable.

The scandal became so politically toxic that the administration decided to remove new locally funded flood-control allocations from the 2026 budget.

And now, barely a year later, ₱107.4 billion is back in the proposed 2027 budget for flood-control projects.

Yes, the government says the money will be used for the maintenance, repair, rehabilitation and improvement of existing infrastructure. Officials argue that the country cannot simply abandon flood-control projects that are already underway.

That argument may be technically reasonable.

But politically?

It is incredibly tone-deaf.

Because the question Filipinos are asking is not simply: Do we need flood control?

Of course we do.

The question is: Can we trust the government to spend another ₱107.4 billion on flood control after what we have just learned?

That is an entirely different question.

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism reported that a year after Marcos publicly denounced corruption in flood-control projects, the country still had not fully accounted for the scale of the alleged wrongdoing or determined who at the highest levels of power should be held responsible. Senator Panfilo Lacson has estimated that around ₱180 billion allocated for flood control since 2016 may have been diverted to ghost projects.

And yet here we are.

Another budget.

Another enormous flood-control allocation.

Another promise that this time, safeguards will be better.

Haven’t we heard this before?

The administration appears to be counting on the Filipino people’s short memory.

That may be its biggest political mistake.

Because Filipinos have not forgotten the images of communities drowning while billions of pesos supposedly intended to protect them were being questioned.

They have not forgotten the alleged ghost projects.
They have not forgotten the contractors.
They have not forgotten the congressional investigations.
They have not forgotten the President’s own outrage.

And they certainly have not forgotten that the government itself once said there would be no new locally funded flood-control projects in the 2026 budget.

So what changed?
Did the corruption problem disappear?
Were all the questionable projects finally accounted for?
Were all the responsible officials and contractors identified?
Were the loopholes permanently closed?
Were Filipinos given a comprehensive accounting of where every peso went?
If the answer to those questions is no, then the administration has a credibility problem.
A very big one.
Because you cannot tell the Filipino people that flood-control corruption is a national scandal today and then ask them to approve another ₱107.4 billion for flood control tomorrow without first demonstrating that the system has fundamentally changed.
This is not an argument against flood control.
It is an argument for accountability.
Build flood-control projects if they are genuinely necessary.
Repair them if they are genuinely broken.
Protect Filipino communities if they are genuinely at risk.
But before releasing another mountain of public money, show the people exactly where it will go.
Show the contracts.
Show the locations.
Show the contractors.
Show the engineers.
Show the designs.
Show the progress.
Show the receipts.
And most importantly, show us who is accountable when something goes wrong.
Because the greatest danger facing the Marcos administration may no longer be the next flood.
It may be the public’s growing belief that the government learned absolutely nothing from the last one.
The irony is painful.
The administration spent political capital convincing Filipinos that it would clean up the flood-control mess.
Now it is asking Congress to give it ₱107.4 billion to continue spending on flood control.
That is not necessarily proof of corruption.
But it is certainly a test of credibility.

And this is where the Marcos administration appears not to understand the anger of the Filipino people.
The people are not opposed to flood control.
They are opposed to being flooded with excuses.
They are opposed to seeing billions appropriated while their communities remain underwater.
They are opposed to projects that exist on paper but mysteriously fail when the rain comes.
And after everything that has happened, they have every right to demand more than another promise that there will be safeguards.
Because trust, once lost, cannot be appropriated in the national budget.
It cannot be inserted as a line item.
It cannot be released as an unprogrammed appropriation.
And it certainly cannot be rebuilt with another press conference.
The Marcos administration says it has learned from the flood-control scandal.
Then prove it.
Because if the government really believes Filipinos have forgotten, it may be making the biggest political miscalculation of all.
The people remember.
And when the next flood comes, they will not only ask where the water came from.
They will ask:
Where did the ₱107.4 billion go?