PHMarcos Jr. and his failures within the last 4 years of being president || Megathread
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This is a working thread. Feel free to respond with criticism, corrections, and any additional discussions
If there are any political figures that you would like to have a similar discussion about, please feel free to either respon to this thread or message me with evidences of their wrongdoings
musicacc727727
Historian by profession, an activist for the betterment of the Nation
-----
Philippine politics has recently taken a stir, with social media flooded with practically very limited narratives exploring what currently is perhaps the most disorganized government the Philippines ever had. This thread aims to reflect what had led to this current situation, primarily focusing on how Marcos Jr. has handled the country so far.
Bongbong Marcos has been the Philippine president since his landslide win in 2022. Throughout his four years of leadership, it's important that we review what he's done wrong, for these matter the most. Public servants are meant to serve people, and while we should be thankful for their good deeds, it should be no surprise that they do such acts, as they are afterall, public servants. But once they commit mistakes, especially with nationwide impacts, it should be our cue to challenge their credibility.
I outlined here some of his failures throughout his presidency, but do expect that it will receive frequent updates, especially since major **** ups do happen quite often.
Edit 1: Fixed some misspelled words
Edit 2: 2024 - 2026 because I'm bored. Not as detailed as the first one because I'm bored, but expect updates soon
---
Pre-Election
1. False News
The 2022 campaign was won not on debate stages, but in the trenches of social media. Years before he even filed his certificate of candidacy, a well-oiled machinery was already rewriting history, manipulating the vulnerabilities of an electorate systematically deprived of comprehensive historical education (Beltran, 2022).
i. Tallano Gold
This is perhaps the most absurd, yet remarkably effective, piece of propaganda. The myth suggests that the Marcos family’s immense wealth did not come from plundering the nation’s coffers, but from a royal family (the "Tallanos") who ρáíd Marcos Sr. in thousands of tons of gold for legal services. This narrative was crucial because it normalized the family's wealth and effectively bypassed the Supreme Court rulings that had already proven the Marcoses stole at least $658 million from the state. By turning a kleptocrat into an impossibly wealthy hero, the disinformation network gave voters a comfortable alternative to the truth (Mendoza et al., 2023).
ii. Marcos Sr.'s legacy
The rebranding of the Martial Law era as the "Golden Age" of the Philippines was the absolute cornerstone of Marcos Jr.'s victory. Despite international record such as Amnesty International (2022) confirming 3,000 deaths, 30,000 tortured, and 70,000 imprisoned, the disinformation campaign successfully flooded social media, and even news outlets such as SMNI with outright lies. They claimed no one was arrested during Martial Law and that human rights victims fabricated their stories for state reparations. Marcos Jr. himself called his father his "inspiration," riding this wave of historical revisionism to whitewash a brutal dictatorship (Kasuya, 2024).
iii. "Ang kasalanan ng ama ay hindi kasalanan ng anak"
This psychological defense mechanism was weaponized to shield Marcos Jr. from basic accountability. It argued that Bongbong should not be judged by his father's actions. However, this conveniently ignores the fact that Marcos Jr. was not an innocent bystander; he was an ãdül† serving as an official during his father's regime, he legally fought to keep the family's ill-gotten wealth, and his entire political capital is built exclusively on his father's name. You cannot claim the absolute glory of the father while entirely washing your hands of his blood and plunder.
---
2022
1. The Sugar Importation Fiasco
Two months into his presidency, while also sitting as the Secretary of Agriculture, the administration was rocked by the Sugar Order No. 4 fiasco. The order authorized the importation of 300,000 metric tons of sugar, which Marcos initially rejected. This led to massive confusion, sudden resignations in the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), and accusations of state-sponsored smuggling. While the Palace tried to play it off as a "procedural mistake," the crisis drove local sugar prices to absurd highs, hurting millions of Filipino consumers while agricultural cartels thrived (Wikipedia Contributors, 2023).
2. The Maharlika Investment Fund Railroad
The administration prioritized the creation of the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), a sovereign wealth fund launched without a surplus of sovereign wealth. Rushed through Congress because Marcos certified it as "urgent," the initial drafts even attempted to dip into the hard-earned pensions of ordinary Filipinos via the SSS and GSIS. While public backlash successfully removed the mandatory pension contributions, it established a terrifying precedent of bulldozing risky economic policies without proper safeguards or public consensus (Inquirer, 2023).
---
2023
1. Inflation and the Kadiwa Band-Aid
Despite his grand campaign promise of reducing rice prices to ₱20 per kilo, 2023 saw inflation skyrocket, heavily driven by the cost of basic food items. Rather than implementing long-term agricultural reforms, Marcos Jr. relied on reviving the "Kadiwa ng Pangulo" pop-up stores. This was a superficial, short-term optical illusion pulled straight from his father's era that did absolutely nothing to address the systemic supply chain issues or protect local farmers from rampant agricultural smuggling.
2. The Confidential and Intelligence Funds (CIF) Outrage
As millions of Filipinos struggled with the cost of living, the Office of the President (OP) and the Office of the Vice President (OVP) requested billions in opaque "pork barrel" funds. The OP spent ₱4.56 billion on CIFs in 2023 alone—making it the absolute highest spender in the government—while Vice President Sara Duterte controversially accessed ₱125 million in just 11 days the previous year without direct congressional authorization in the General Appropriations Act (Geopolitical Monitor, 2023; SunStar, 2024). Watchdogs and civil groups rightfully condemned this, demanding that funds be re-channeled to basic social services and the health sector instead of untraceable surveillance budgets (National Council of Churches in the Philippines, 2023).
---
2024
1. POGO and Alice Guo
While Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators heavily grew abd multiplied under Duterte, the Marcos administration allowed these hubs to mutate into massive syndicates for scams, espionage, and human trafficking. Perhaps the most notable case being the then-Sitting mayor, Alice Guo, who was actually a Chinese national tied to these criminal networks before the (not-so) POGO ban. The administration's delayed, reactive response reflected that infiltrating the country with such malicious acts can be quite easy (Freedom House, 2025). Also, do take note that the POGO ban didn't actually ban the POGO in the way that it was supposed to.
2. "Bagong Pilipinas"?
Instead of addressing concrete, systemic economic issues, the administration poured resources into the "Bagong Pilipinas" (New Philippines) campaign. This was a highly expensive PR stunt designed to manufacture a sense of progress through mandatory recitations and flashy logos. Behind this hollow branding, foreign investment plunged by a staggering 50%—from $9.42 billion in 2024 down to $4.7 billion the following year. (BTI, 2026; Al Jazeera, 2026). Also, if this Bagong Pilipinas campaign feels familiar, it's because Marcos Sr. also had a similar campaign called Bagong Lipunan. When he was president, he also focused on aesthetics: paintings, buildings, and structures as Gifts to or from Imelda. Ironic for their son to use a similar campaign, right?
3. NTF-ELCAC and Red-Tagging
Despite international claims of pivoting toward human rights, the Marcos administration maintained and heavily funded the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). The administration outright rejected calls from UN experts to disband the agency. Consequently, the arbitrary "red-tagging" of activists, journalists, and Indigenous leaders persisted. Even after the Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that red-tagging constitutes a direct threat to life and liberty, state forces continued the practice, ensuring a chilling effect on freedom of E×ρréššion while bypassing basic judicial due process (Human Rights Watch, 2026).
---
2025
1. ₱545-Billion Flood Control "Ghost Project" *******
Perhaps the most damning corruption ******* of his presidency erupted in mid-2025. Investigations by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee revealed a systemic web of "ghost projects," substandard construction, and contractor monopolies heavily tied to the Department of Public Works and Highways. Approximately ₱545 billion had been allocated for flood mitigation since 2022.
2. Job creation
The administration's economic mismanagement reached a boiling point in 2025, cementing it as the fifth-worst year for job creation in a quarter-century. With a mere 172,000 jobs added to the labor market and unemployment steadily rising, the administration's promises of revitalization fell completely flat.
---
2026
1. UniTeam's Final Nail in the Coffin
Recently, the Duterte vs Marcos supporter wars exceeded even the thresholds of the 2022 NLE debates on whom to vote. Filipinos that once supported both Sara and Bongbong are now divided into two teams, recklessly fighting each other on the internet. Both the President and Vice President has yet to address any clear plan or desire of reconciliation and managing their ties as the two highest officials in the country, reflecting that their intents are not for the people, but purely personal.
2. What does he even do [memeface]
2026 has been the quietest month when it comes to basically any responses for any events in the country directly ordered by the president. No clean progress, no clear results, not even a clear plan for any of the country's problems.
3. Trust Rating
Bongbong garnered a staggering negative fifteen trust rating (Social Weather Station, 2026). This is the lowest rating he had gotten since assuming presidency in 2022. It reflects that the Filipino people are dissatisfied by quite a lot by the way he runs the country.
---
References (excuse the formatting, I know it's supposed be italicized. Didn't attach the links because it will be clunky, but feel free to note if there's anything wrong or anything you can't find)
===References edit note 1: Some of there may have not been used in the document. I deleted some parts of the points I initially wrote since they seem a bit too far off of the topic. Also, this is unsorted now. Expect updates
Al Jazeera. (2026, February 25). Questions for Marcos Jr 40 years after Philippines 'People Power' revolt.
BTI Transformation Index. (2026). Philippines Country Report 2026.
Department of Budget and Management. (2026). President Marcos Jr. tightens grip on 2026 budget.
Freedom House. (2025). Philippines: Freedom in the World 2025 Country Report.
Human Rights Watch. (2026). World Report 2026: Philippines.
Amnesty International. (2022). Philippines: Human rights record of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
Beltran, M. (2022, June 29). Disinformation reigns in Philippines as Marcos Jr takes top job. Al Jazeera.
Geopolitical Monitor. (2023, October). Confidential Funds Controversy Erupts in Philippines.
Inquirer. (2023, July 23). Sona report card: Hits, misses from Bongbong Marcos' 2022 promises.
Kasuya, Y. (2024). Disinformation and the Victory of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the 2022 Philippine Presidential Election. Safer Internet Lab.
Mendoza, et al. (2023). When fake news infects political networks: case study of the Tallano gold myth in the Philippines. Media Asia.
National Council of Churches in the Philippines. (2023). On the Controversial Confidential and Intelligence Funds under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s Administration.
SunStar. (2024, December 10). Marcos' office remains top spender of confidential, intel funds.
Wikipedia Contributors. (2023). 2022–2023 Philippine sugar crisis.
-----
This is a working thread. Feel free to respond with criticism, corrections, and any additional discussions
If there are any political figures that you would like to have a similar discussion about, please feel free to either respon to this thread or message me with evidences of their wrongdoings
musicacc727727
Historian by profession, an activist for the betterment of the Nation
-----
Philippine politics has recently taken a stir, with social media flooded with practically very limited narratives exploring what currently is perhaps the most disorganized government the Philippines ever had. This thread aims to reflect what had led to this current situation, primarily focusing on how Marcos Jr. has handled the country so far.
Bongbong Marcos has been the Philippine president since his landslide win in 2022. Throughout his four years of leadership, it's important that we review what he's done wrong, for these matter the most. Public servants are meant to serve people, and while we should be thankful for their good deeds, it should be no surprise that they do such acts, as they are afterall, public servants. But once they commit mistakes, especially with nationwide impacts, it should be our cue to challenge their credibility.
I outlined here some of his failures throughout his presidency, but do expect that it will receive frequent updates, especially since major **** ups do happen quite often.
Edit 1: Fixed some misspelled words
Edit 2: 2024 - 2026 because I'm bored. Not as detailed as the first one because I'm bored, but expect updates soon
---
Pre-Election
1. False News
The 2022 campaign was won not on debate stages, but in the trenches of social media. Years before he even filed his certificate of candidacy, a well-oiled machinery was already rewriting history, manipulating the vulnerabilities of an electorate systematically deprived of comprehensive historical education (Beltran, 2022).
i. Tallano Gold
This is perhaps the most absurd, yet remarkably effective, piece of propaganda. The myth suggests that the Marcos family’s immense wealth did not come from plundering the nation’s coffers, but from a royal family (the "Tallanos") who ρáíd Marcos Sr. in thousands of tons of gold for legal services. This narrative was crucial because it normalized the family's wealth and effectively bypassed the Supreme Court rulings that had already proven the Marcoses stole at least $658 million from the state. By turning a kleptocrat into an impossibly wealthy hero, the disinformation network gave voters a comfortable alternative to the truth (Mendoza et al., 2023).
ii. Marcos Sr.'s legacy
The rebranding of the Martial Law era as the "Golden Age" of the Philippines was the absolute cornerstone of Marcos Jr.'s victory. Despite international record such as Amnesty International (2022) confirming 3,000 deaths, 30,000 tortured, and 70,000 imprisoned, the disinformation campaign successfully flooded social media, and even news outlets such as SMNI with outright lies. They claimed no one was arrested during Martial Law and that human rights victims fabricated their stories for state reparations. Marcos Jr. himself called his father his "inspiration," riding this wave of historical revisionism to whitewash a brutal dictatorship (Kasuya, 2024).
iii. "Ang kasalanan ng ama ay hindi kasalanan ng anak"
This psychological defense mechanism was weaponized to shield Marcos Jr. from basic accountability. It argued that Bongbong should not be judged by his father's actions. However, this conveniently ignores the fact that Marcos Jr. was not an innocent bystander; he was an ãdül† serving as an official during his father's regime, he legally fought to keep the family's ill-gotten wealth, and his entire political capital is built exclusively on his father's name. You cannot claim the absolute glory of the father while entirely washing your hands of his blood and plunder.
---
2022
1. The Sugar Importation Fiasco
Two months into his presidency, while also sitting as the Secretary of Agriculture, the administration was rocked by the Sugar Order No. 4 fiasco. The order authorized the importation of 300,000 metric tons of sugar, which Marcos initially rejected. This led to massive confusion, sudden resignations in the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), and accusations of state-sponsored smuggling. While the Palace tried to play it off as a "procedural mistake," the crisis drove local sugar prices to absurd highs, hurting millions of Filipino consumers while agricultural cartels thrived (Wikipedia Contributors, 2023).
2. The Maharlika Investment Fund Railroad
The administration prioritized the creation of the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), a sovereign wealth fund launched without a surplus of sovereign wealth. Rushed through Congress because Marcos certified it as "urgent," the initial drafts even attempted to dip into the hard-earned pensions of ordinary Filipinos via the SSS and GSIS. While public backlash successfully removed the mandatory pension contributions, it established a terrifying precedent of bulldozing risky economic policies without proper safeguards or public consensus (Inquirer, 2023).
---
2023
1. Inflation and the Kadiwa Band-Aid
Despite his grand campaign promise of reducing rice prices to ₱20 per kilo, 2023 saw inflation skyrocket, heavily driven by the cost of basic food items. Rather than implementing long-term agricultural reforms, Marcos Jr. relied on reviving the "Kadiwa ng Pangulo" pop-up stores. This was a superficial, short-term optical illusion pulled straight from his father's era that did absolutely nothing to address the systemic supply chain issues or protect local farmers from rampant agricultural smuggling.
2. The Confidential and Intelligence Funds (CIF) Outrage
As millions of Filipinos struggled with the cost of living, the Office of the President (OP) and the Office of the Vice President (OVP) requested billions in opaque "pork barrel" funds. The OP spent ₱4.56 billion on CIFs in 2023 alone—making it the absolute highest spender in the government—while Vice President Sara Duterte controversially accessed ₱125 million in just 11 days the previous year without direct congressional authorization in the General Appropriations Act (Geopolitical Monitor, 2023; SunStar, 2024). Watchdogs and civil groups rightfully condemned this, demanding that funds be re-channeled to basic social services and the health sector instead of untraceable surveillance budgets (National Council of Churches in the Philippines, 2023).
---
2024
1. POGO and Alice Guo
While Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators heavily grew abd multiplied under Duterte, the Marcos administration allowed these hubs to mutate into massive syndicates for scams, espionage, and human trafficking. Perhaps the most notable case being the then-Sitting mayor, Alice Guo, who was actually a Chinese national tied to these criminal networks before the (not-so) POGO ban. The administration's delayed, reactive response reflected that infiltrating the country with such malicious acts can be quite easy (Freedom House, 2025). Also, do take note that the POGO ban didn't actually ban the POGO in the way that it was supposed to.
2. "Bagong Pilipinas"?
Instead of addressing concrete, systemic economic issues, the administration poured resources into the "Bagong Pilipinas" (New Philippines) campaign. This was a highly expensive PR stunt designed to manufacture a sense of progress through mandatory recitations and flashy logos. Behind this hollow branding, foreign investment plunged by a staggering 50%—from $9.42 billion in 2024 down to $4.7 billion the following year. (BTI, 2026; Al Jazeera, 2026). Also, if this Bagong Pilipinas campaign feels familiar, it's because Marcos Sr. also had a similar campaign called Bagong Lipunan. When he was president, he also focused on aesthetics: paintings, buildings, and structures as Gifts to or from Imelda. Ironic for their son to use a similar campaign, right?
3. NTF-ELCAC and Red-Tagging
Despite international claims of pivoting toward human rights, the Marcos administration maintained and heavily funded the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). The administration outright rejected calls from UN experts to disband the agency. Consequently, the arbitrary "red-tagging" of activists, journalists, and Indigenous leaders persisted. Even after the Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that red-tagging constitutes a direct threat to life and liberty, state forces continued the practice, ensuring a chilling effect on freedom of E×ρréššion while bypassing basic judicial due process (Human Rights Watch, 2026).
---
2025
1. ₱545-Billion Flood Control "Ghost Project" *******
Perhaps the most damning corruption ******* of his presidency erupted in mid-2025. Investigations by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee revealed a systemic web of "ghost projects," substandard construction, and contractor monopolies heavily tied to the Department of Public Works and Highways. Approximately ₱545 billion had been allocated for flood mitigation since 2022.
2. Job creation
The administration's economic mismanagement reached a boiling point in 2025, cementing it as the fifth-worst year for job creation in a quarter-century. With a mere 172,000 jobs added to the labor market and unemployment steadily rising, the administration's promises of revitalization fell completely flat.
---
2026
1. UniTeam's Final Nail in the Coffin
Recently, the Duterte vs Marcos supporter wars exceeded even the thresholds of the 2022 NLE debates on whom to vote. Filipinos that once supported both Sara and Bongbong are now divided into two teams, recklessly fighting each other on the internet. Both the President and Vice President has yet to address any clear plan or desire of reconciliation and managing their ties as the two highest officials in the country, reflecting that their intents are not for the people, but purely personal.
2. What does he even do [memeface]
2026 has been the quietest month when it comes to basically any responses for any events in the country directly ordered by the president. No clean progress, no clear results, not even a clear plan for any of the country's problems.
3. Trust Rating
Bongbong garnered a staggering negative fifteen trust rating (Social Weather Station, 2026). This is the lowest rating he had gotten since assuming presidency in 2022. It reflects that the Filipino people are dissatisfied by quite a lot by the way he runs the country.
---
References (excuse the formatting, I know it's supposed be italicized. Didn't attach the links because it will be clunky, but feel free to note if there's anything wrong or anything you can't find)
===References edit note 1: Some of there may have not been used in the document. I deleted some parts of the points I initially wrote since they seem a bit too far off of the topic. Also, this is unsorted now. Expect updates
Al Jazeera. (2026, February 25). Questions for Marcos Jr 40 years after Philippines 'People Power' revolt.
BTI Transformation Index. (2026). Philippines Country Report 2026.
Department of Budget and Management. (2026). President Marcos Jr. tightens grip on 2026 budget.
Freedom House. (2025). Philippines: Freedom in the World 2025 Country Report.
Human Rights Watch. (2026). World Report 2026: Philippines.
Amnesty International. (2022). Philippines: Human rights record of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
Beltran, M. (2022, June 29). Disinformation reigns in Philippines as Marcos Jr takes top job. Al Jazeera.
Geopolitical Monitor. (2023, October). Confidential Funds Controversy Erupts in Philippines.
Inquirer. (2023, July 23). Sona report card: Hits, misses from Bongbong Marcos' 2022 promises.
Kasuya, Y. (2024). Disinformation and the Victory of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the 2022 Philippine Presidential Election. Safer Internet Lab.
Mendoza, et al. (2023). When fake news infects political networks: case study of the Tallano gold myth in the Philippines. Media Asia.
National Council of Churches in the Philippines. (2023). On the Controversial Confidential and Intelligence Funds under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s Administration.
SunStar. (2024, December 10). Marcos' office remains top spender of confidential, intel funds.
Wikipedia Contributors. (2023). 2022–2023 Philippine sugar crisis.