VANCOUVER — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) dismissed as "nonsense" calls to oust him, insisting that it was he who exposed anomalies in flood control projects.
In a media interview in Canada, Marcos said irregularities in flood control projects were only disclosed during his watch, noting that past presidents had failed to look into the issue that happened "beyond [his] administration."
"If I hadn't said what I said in the SONA (State of the Nation Address), we wouldn't be talking about this. I'm the one who exposed all of this. And I'm the only one who has started to do anything about this," Marcos said.
"Have they imprisoned anyone? Have they frozen any accounts? Have they conducted any investigations? Nothing. Only me. Then they will say, I'm the one who did it. Well, if it was really my racket, why would I ruin my racket? That makes absolutely no sense," he added.
Marcos said that the government has maintained an inventory not only of contractors but also of flood control projects found to have irregularities.
He said the list he previously disclosed has been investigated, with some contractors now facing cases and the freezing of their bank accounts.
"There were one or two where, although they were named and had large contracts, it turned out there was no problem," Marcos said.
"So yes, we have the inventory not only of the contractors but also of the projects themselves that are problematic," he added.