We feel you, we won’t disappoint you – Palace

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang said it is one with protesters demanding accountability over the multibillion-peso flood control corruption, even as it stressed that President Marcos would not be distracted by calls to step down.

“We feel the people’s anger. We also feel their impatience. To those attending the rally and will join other demonstrations, this is what I can say: we feel you, we hear you, and we will not disappoint you. Let’s just remember, we need to observe due process in all of this,” Presidential Communications Secretary Dave Gomez told ANC yesterday.

Like the previous anti-corruption protests, Marcos stayed at Malacañang yesterday
 and closely monitored the situation, Gomez noted.

“The President and the entire administration are monitoring the rallies. We in the government, we respect the people’s right to peaceably assemble and express their anger and frustration over these flood control issues. We stand together with them,” he said.

Protest actions were held in parts of Metro Manila, including in Rizal Park and Mendiola in Manila, and the People Power Monument in Quezon City.

“Well, the President will not be distracted by any of these calls for him to step down, to resign. He will finish the job, the job that he began,” Gomez emphasized.

Gomez said the Office of the Ombudsman and the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) have recommended the filing of graft charges and sent to jail a number of suspects involved in ghost and anomalous flood control projects only a few months after the President’s fourth State of the Nation Address.

The PCO chief reiterated the need to build airtight cases against those who benefitted from the flood control anomalies. He also reassured the public that the President will not meddle with the work of the ICI.

Impeached Vice President Sara Duterte, for her part, yesterday urged the people to use the sacrifices of national hero Andres Bonifacio as their inspiration to fight for justice and equality in the country.

The Philippines marked Bonifacio’s 162nd birth anniversary yesterday. — Evelyn Macairan