CORRUPTION AND ASSASSINATIONS: The Dark Side of Philippine Politics

The Philippines is experiencing protests against government corruption as citizens demand accountability for embezzled flood control project funds and the resulting ineffective infrastructure during typhoon season.

• Politicians and contractors inflate project costs and pocket the difference
• Barangay captains (neighborhood officials) often neglect their responsibilities
• Political assassinations occur regularly, particularly against contractors
• The country has towns known for "killers for hire" who carry out contract killings
• Recent contractor killings may be attempts to silence potential witnesses
• Consumer products in the Philippines often seem to be lower quality than identical brands in Western markets
• Corruption investigations rarely reach high-level politicians who orchestrate schemes
• Citizens are increasingly connecting failed infrastructure to officials' sudden wealth

If you have experiences with corruption or quality issues in the Philippines, I'd love to hear your perspective. Connect with me through my podcast platform Buzz Sprout or leave a comment.

Chapters

• 0:00 Coffee Press Problems
• 3:53 Low Quality Products in Philippines
• 5:17 Corrupt Barangay Officials
• 10:12 Political Assassinations and Hitmen
• 14:47 Flood Control Project Corruption
• 22:16 Investigating Recent Contractor Killings
• 30:36 Living With Corruption Realities

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:08

What's up? This is the the objective jerk and said jerk. How's everybody doing? Hope everybody's doing well. Getting their getting their steps in, you know, hanging on to their diet, going to the gym, whichever. Got my coffee press here, cuz my coffee pot, which is only like three months old or something, quit working. It it's like it's plugged in, then the light switch lights up, but it doesn't it doesn't brew the coffee. It's like the third coffee pot that we've had here. I don't know. Things before I get into what I'm gonna talk about, which is the craziness that's going on in the Philippines. It's kind of like the same stuff that was going on in the States, but it's different. But before I get into that, I just want to reiterate how retarded Filipinos are. When it comes to like cons like consumer products and things like that. Like they just I've said it before, I know I've said it before, but generally when you go to a store, whether it's buying you know clothing or tools or I don't know, whatever. You know, you're at the mall, you ask the salesman information and what's good and what isn't, and yeah, you know, like in the States, somebody might kind of fib a little bit because they're told, hey, we got to sell these, and they get you know commission or something. That's what they don't have here. They don't have commission. I think they need to. But so I was looking to buy a sprayer, you know, a little a jug that you put stuff in. Like for me, it's like because algae builds up like crazy during the rainy season. So I want to put some chlorine and some water pump spray, you know, the driveway and all this kind of stuff. Because I pressure wash, which takes forever, but I pressure wash like a month or so ago, and it's already the algae's back again, you know. So it's like, gosh. So I go to a true value at the mall, and I they got like, I think I want to say two, two different kind of pump things, and this one was like eagle, whatever. And I was like, is this a good one? Is this a good brand? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's garbage, man. It sucks. Nothing works, it couldn't keep a seal, it wouldn't hold the air pressure. The plastic is all crap. I'm just uh I'm so like frustrated and tired of having only shit products to choose from. You know what I'm saying? And it's like I've said it before, it's like the products that we get here that you get in the States, like uh my kids choose like some vans or something, right? I I have no proof, I have no idea, but I would I'm pretty close that I would bet my life that because all of it's made in the same place, right? So China makes their vans, right? They got quality control person doing the inspection, and they're like, eh, this this isn't this isn't quite good enough for American standards. Let's send it to the Philippines. All these ones that are they're pretty good. They're enough to go out, but not to America, and America gets the better quality. Not always, I guess, but it just quality of stuff here is just horrible, man. Like hard screws and nail, just certain things, it's just like it's it's it's very, very frustrating. So yeah, so that's what I was doing. And so the coffee pot, that's how it all started. So my coffee pot's out. I'm just like, God, it's only like three months old. So now I'm using my French press, which which makes a better cup of coffee anyway. I don't know why I don't just use it more often. I probably I don't think I'm gonna buy another coffee pot. I'll probably just buy an espresso machine because I had an espresso machine and that went out about a year ago now or so. So yeah, there's that. But yeah, so that's all it's kind of going with me. I this is the first time I've used up all my allotted time for my podcast, my platform, my website, Buzz Sprout, which is you know what the platform that I use to record my uh my podcast. And so, and that you can go and visit it and the website and everything. But Buzz Sprout, that's that's what I use. Let me press down the plunger. Oh yeah, it's gonna be good. It's gonna be good. Yeah, the the French press does make a better cup of coffee, man. It's just it doesn't stay hot for as long. And it's not as big, obviously. So but here I go. Look at that. Ooh, some good sweet nectar. Okay. Nice and hot. Now my fingers start. I got this little teeny cup, my finger's all stuck in it. Anyway, all right. So, yeah, so the Philippines, right? Okay. I know I talked about there was a small time, I guess you could call him, a politician. He was in charge of some barangay stuff. I don't know. I've told you before the barangay captains, so they have neighborhoods which are called barangays, and they have barangay captains, so they have people that are kind of in charge of those neighborhoods. So if you have a problem, you go to them and they deal with you know somebody else or whatever. So it's kind of like low-level politics, right? Which I think is actually kind of a cool concept, but a lot of the barangay captains here are lazy pieces of shit and they don't do nothing, they just collect the money, basically. Case in point, you know, there was a little bit of construction going on on a road, and uh, you know, they had it blocked off. They just threw like some sticks and twigs and bamboo to block people from driving over it, but there's no signs, there's no light, no reflective nothing, nothing. And people were like running into it, you know what I mean. So my wife was like, what the crap? Because it's kind of a pet peeve for her, you know, because she's been to the states and she sees how, you know, in the states they have the Department of Transportation and everything, they make sure that there's signs and caution and all that kind of stuff. They don't do that here. And so she went to the Bronguey Captain, and it was seven o'clock at night. The dude was shit faced, he's driving around on a moped with no helmet on, and he just like berates her, and what's your problem? Like, he gets all pissed off, you know, and it's like she's just trying to like help, you know? So it's it's it's like I said, it's a nice concept, but a lot of them that we've dealt with are just pieces of shit. If you're a Bronguy captain listening to this, let me know. Anyway, so there was a year over a year now. I talked about it on a podcast, like a bron guy cap, but he wasn't he wasn't a captain, but he was like a higher up for bron guy captains or something like that. Well, he got gunned down not far from where I live, blah blah blah blah blah, died. Nothing ever happened afterward. I don't, you know, if you look up, there's no reports, no nothing. Just the immediate, this is what happened, and then they just whoop, just disappears, it's gone. So, you know, that leaves me to think that it's political. It's a political assassination, basically. You know what I mean? And they're covering it up, basically. Well, so there's some towns, some small towns that we've driven through, when I say we, me and my family or my wife, and like back road kind of country roads, and she'll be like, hey, you know, just just so you know, this town here is a lot of people that are killers for hire. Meaning, if you want to hire somebody to kill someone, you go to this town and there's somebody there that will do it. You know what I mean? And this has just been going on forever, you know. That's that's that's what they do, right? And I I think I talked about how there was a woman who was taking the bus to like Manila or something, and then there was a shooter on the bus. They waited for a certain time when her and her husband were asleep, and there comes a stop. The guy comes up, like he's getting off the bus, and he just caps him right there. They didn't even know what hit him and they left. You know what I mean? It was all caught on the camera on the bus. So, I mean, it's not like an epidemic. I mean, but it does happen at least once a year. And I'm just talking about my area. I mean, it could be, you know, I'm not talking about all over. Maybe not quite once a year, but I I I would bet though, if you were to, you know, just on average. Anyway, so there's all that, right? And then you have the stuff that's going on right now in the news. So you have politicians and contractors who, you know, contracted flood relief, or what do they call it? It's you know, this the typhoons they cause a lot of flooding, so they're trying to build drainages and stuff like that to mitigate the flooding that happens. And so they're you know, all this money from the the country, you know, pay for these politicians and they get the contractors and they they do these these jobs where they're building whatever. You see it all over the place. But the thing is, is like they half-ass it, shit's not working right, it's not stopping the flooding, and people are getting pissed. So you have a lot of protests now in the Philippines, and I I did talk about it briefly on my I don't know if it was my last podcast or the one before, but there has been some violent protesting, you know, burning this and that, and stuff like that, right? And you know, one example of how they, you know, what's the word I just lost? Like embezzle money, right? Is so like there's like solar lights that they're putting up all over, like they're they're putting them in, like just on my street in front of my house, they put them in like two years ago, and you're starting to see them a lot more. So the the the roads are lit up nice at night, right? Which is great. But the thing is, is like a lot of these people who are bidding these jobs, they will bid these jobs. The the politician will give it the contractor, the contractor will bid like a solar light, so much money per solar light, right? And it goes to the official, and then they approve it, and then they get going. The thing is, they bid it like three times or five times more than what it actually costs. So they they submit that, they're all doing this together. They submit it, they get the money, they pay for the light, and then all the extra goes into the pockets of the politician and the contractor, right? So you see all these contractors driving around these nice cars and having these nice houses, and so it's you know, it's it's apparent that there's lots of corruption going on. And so people are pissed off, which is you know, that's you know, they have that right. And it's like I agree, you know. And it's just you know, it's really bad though. The politicians here are really, really like all of them are just corrupt. Like, that's the whole reason they get into politics here. Like, I honestly believe there are people like in the states who think they're gonna make a difference, and then they get in and they they get you know corrupted. Either they stay in, they get corrupted, or they get out, you know. Here it just like they they go into politics knowing that they're gonna make money and they're gonna be able to provide for their family and stuff like that. And it's it's not just that though, but they're gonna make a lot of money and they're gonna, you know, because you see these people and they just build these huge mansions and all this stuff, and it's just like, dude, what the hell, you know? So that's kind of what's going on, right? Well, just recently, locally here, a contractor, I think it was a woman who was the contractor, she was just taken out like yesterday. She was assassinated, killed because of you know, all this stuff going on, right? And you know, a part of me is like, I don't, you know, I'm not gonna celebrate it like woo-hoo, like some idiots do, but I'm not gonna be like upset about it, right? Yeah, you know, it's it's kind of you know, it's what you get, kinda, right? However, she's kind of like a a contractor. What I think happened is the hit was put out by politicians that were involved with this person to silence her so that it couldn't get back to them. That's what I think happened. Could it be that people who are protesting and upset took it upon themselves? Yeah. I guess so. And that's what I would rather it be. You know, so they're like, hey, if you're gonna be corrupt and steal money from us and all this kind of stuff, this is what happens. But I don't think that's what happened. I think it was politicians trying to cover their butts. That's what I think. So yeah, it's kind of it's crazy, you know? It's crazy. I don't know. I don't know what the thing, you know. I mean, you know, you hear about the stuff in the state, it's just it's it's it's the same, but it's different. I don't know, I don't know how to explain it, but you know, I remember when I was talking to some friends about moving here, and they were just like, oh my gosh, dude, aren't you scared? Aren't you this, whatever, this and that, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, you know, I came here to visit and I got to see it, so I didn't just move here blindly, you know. And I had, you know, my wife, this is where my wife is from. So she knows people that, you know, so it's not, I can understand like if I was single and I'm like, I'm just gonna go to the Philippines, I'm gonna move somewhere, I'm gonna find me a wife and settle down, you know. That's a little different, it's a little harder. But I don't know. You know, America's just as violent. Oh, every everything is violent right now, man. There's only a couple the countries that don't have this uptick in violence are the ones that have closed borders, no immigrants. You know what I mean? So, what does that tell you? Uh let me see. So, I'm on um my free spoke trying to look and see if there's anything about the Philippines going on. Zelensky, don't give a shit. Former French president Nicholas Sarkozy receives five-year prison sentence in Libya campaign financing case. Wait, isn't that like what? No, no, no, okay, it's a different one. Okay. How come other countries' presidents go but never in the states? You know what's that? People are like, yeah, Trump, blah, blah, blah. Dude, they didn't have nothing on Trump. Okay, that was all smear campaign. If they had actual evidence of him, he would've it would have, you know. Oh, but he got it was whatever. It's like, dude, you had corrupt judges who were, you know, it's like, dude, it wasn't it was a complete farce. And if you think otherwise, you're a moron. So Typhoon Ragasa hits China, Norwegian police investigates explosion in Oslo, Ukraine, Norway, dozens of rested. Oh, here we go. Let's see, dozens arrested and clashed near Philippine Presidential Palace as thousands protest corruption. So that's what's going on there. Let me can I click on this? So this is just the only story, and then it has the different news outlets that are reporting on it. But that's not. I don't want to I'm gonna see if there's anything about what I just said. Because I think it was just some stuff locally on Facebook. My wife saw it. And it's not like a friend told a friend, it was, you know, it's legit. So maybe I should just try and search the Philippines, see what happens. Anonymously Anonymously search the web. No. I want to search. I wanna search just this news thing that I'm on, but it looks like it doesn't have can't probably because I I'm not paying for it. I'm sure it's a lot more user-friendly and have more options if I pay like a monthly whatever. Cause there's this, this free spoke, and then there's another one I see all the time. But I just I use this one. What's that other one called? Ground news, I think. Yeah, ground news is kind of the same thing. So you can look up stuff and then you can look up, you know, each side. You can write, middle, left, like the articles, and see what they're saying and what they're reporting. And and it helps you kind of really see the bias, and you know what I mean? And so it's kind of funny, I think. I mean it's sad, but it's funny. Violent protest erupt in France over. Okay, no, I'm looking for anything Philippines.

SPEAKER_01: 18:10

What is this?

SPEAKER_00: 18:13

Well, while I'm looking for this, I'll talk about too. So there was an individual who was investigating the Epstein stuff, interviewing the various people, and a reporter, undercover reporter who was honeypotting the guy, confessed some stuff that he found and learned and everything, and basically said what I've said and what a lot of people have said is you know, Epstein was an asset or working for the CIA, and that Trump was not involved, but Trump is covering for people that were involved. And I said that a month ago or a couple weeks ago. I was like, I don't think because if Trump, if there was actual video and evidence of Trump humping a bunch of underage girls, they would have released that stuff so quick. So I I was, you know, I came to the conclusion on my own that he's covering for other people. Maybe even being blackmailed to do it. I don't think so, though. I don't think you can blackmail Trump, man. Trump don't give a fuo. Okay, let me see. Let me try this again. Gosh dang it. I wanna I want to see where am I at on my time anyway? I got look. Crap. Come on, night. Oh, I'm still okay. I got some time. Alright, let's see. Philippine Contractor. Let's see what comes up. Let's see. I should do this before I start recording, right? List of assassinations in the Philippines. It's a common thing. Palace orders their own investigation on attempt against Negros oriented or contract. Why is there no date on there so I can see what's new? See, it looks like Philippines. I saw that. Home professional learn no. Three senators being probed for contractor donations. See, that's the thing too, is they're not releasing who did what. So it's like they don't it doesn't become public knowledge, so that they can still run for a public office, and that's what's bullshit. I have clean records. Four out of fifteen. I'm not seeing anything. Why was it talking about hmm contractor assassinated? I should try Facebook, maybe I'll find it.

SPEAKER_01: 20:58

Alright, let's see. Let's see what comes up. Right here.

unknown: 21:18

Oh.

SPEAKER_00: 21:18

So Philippine star. Let's see. So there's some pictures. Looks like they were on a moped or something. Huh. August. Oh wait, no, this is old. This is August 27th. Maybe that's what she was looking at. Let's see. The brazen assassination of the 50-year 58-year-old contractor in Negros. Oriental demands an expeditious and meticulous expeditious and meticulous investigation. The roads must leave no stone unturned. But they do, man. They suck here. The police suck here. I'm sorry. Unturned in their pursuit of justice, scrutinize all potential motives gathering and blah blah blah. Deployment of a resource. Well, hmm. Something a little more recent. Maybe that's what she saw, though. She didn't realize the date. I mean it, you know, let me see. Oh, here we go. Let's see. Oh, here we go. Let's see, it's got a little more information. Angelito. So a 58-year-old engineer and contractor, Angelito. I don't know if that's male or female. A resident of the same town was shot along the national highway in Cito Amonad, Barangay, San Francisco, Santa Catalina, Negros, Oriental, on Wednesday morning. According to the initial investigation by Santa Catalina Police Station, the victim was a male on his way to visit. I thought my wife said it was a female though, so I'm thinking this is different. Was on his way to visit his quarry site in the area when an unidentified suspect's riding a black Honda. Motorcycle shot him while he was driving his own motorcycle. 45 caliber firearm was used. Authorities are still verifying the motive, but a land dispute is being considered as a possible reason. Man, is that what she's talking about? She told me the whole story. But I feel like is that it? And she's like, don't talk about it on your Facebook. Or on your Facebook, on your your podcast. I'm like, man. Whatever. I'm trying to like talk about stuff that is not in the States. You know, I try and talk about things here in the Philippines, because this is where I live now. This is my home. So you know, not trying to bash on it necessarily, but let's see, is there another son of a baby? Philippine contractor assassinated. 2025. Let's see. Let's see if it even brings up that one I was talking about. Probably not. Local stuff here is not gonna be nine disgame from strip of licenses. Contract yes, do contractors are I mean, that's good. They need to take their license, they need to, but the thing is they need to go after the politicians that were involved too. I'm gonna show them this picture. Ghost flood control projects. Yes. So they're like, oh, we're gonna do all this stuff, and then they didn't, they just kept the money. Yeah, flood control scandal. Like it's a huge deal over here, man. Investigation attempt against oh wait, hold on. Palace orders through investigation attempts in Negro. So that's the one I was just talking about, I think. Philippine corruption probe. Three senators being probe for yeah, see they need to get the politicians, man. That's who they need to get. I hate politicians. I don't know. I think it must be just an age thing, you know. I think I talked about before. When you're younger, you don't really care, you don't follow. I remember older people. I can't remember who, like if it was my dad or uncle or something, you know, being like a politician, you always hear that, like jokes and lawyers and everything. Alright. So yeah, August 29th. So this is a month ago, roughly. So let's see, this has got a little more information, I think. Aw man, it's in oh wait, no, here we go. I thought it was in Filipino. Malacanang denounced the murder attempt, murder attempt on a contractor in Negros Oriental last Wednesday made the investigation into alleged so he wasn't killed. Presidential communications office under Palace Press, blah blah blah. Officer Claire Castro said, President asked the Philippine National Police to heighten peace in order. Okay, that's in Tagalog. The quote A contractor was critically wounded after being shot by an undone. Oh, so he wasn't killed. Unidentified motorcycle riding suspect on the highway. Is it though? Amid the continuing probe, casual reiterated reiterated, hold those accountable, meanwhile. Malakanang, I'm saying it wrong, but welcome to public act or public's active involvement in combat in combating corruption by reporting substandard or non-existent flood control projects. The thing is nobody reports this because they they pay. I talked about before when people are running for office here, the local stuff, they give people money. Oh, here's you know, 10,000 pesos. Vote for me. But then it's like, dude, you're getting screwed though. You're voting for the wrong person, man. Annoying. So I think my wife thought she must have read that. I thought she said it was a female. A female contractor. I might be wrong. Dang it. I don't want to give out wrong information. That's what I'm trying to find. I should ask her. I'm gonna ask her. She's probably gonna be like let's see. What are the details regarding the contractor that was assassinated that you told me about? She's gonna say something like, don't do your podcast. It's like, well, I'm not you know, I'm not saying that, I'm just reading what's going on, you know. It's not like I have this huge audience in the Philippines. I'm not like the Joe Rogan of the Philippines or you know I mean I do have people that listen to me in the Philippines, but let's see, so I'm right on my thing right now. So looking at all episodes, I mean not bad, I guess. So 22% of the downloads of my total downloads are from Asia. And most of them are from Singapore. You know, 3% is from the Philippines, so it's not I don't have like this huge audience in the Philippines. Right? Because I talk shit about I I I like it here. I know you know what? I don't know. I don't know what to say. I like it here, and I just oh here we go. Oh, she sent me the oh man, I think it just happened in the log? Excuse me.

SPEAKER_01: 29:28

What'd she do?

SPEAKER_00: 29:32

Okay. Update the continuous Oh man, it's in Filipino. I don't know. Son of a bitch. What?

SPEAKER_01: 29:46

Some things, what is this crap?

SPEAKER_00: 29:50

No, so this just happened. So this just happened. Oh my gosh, dude. What? I can't even do anything with it. I can't click anything.

SPEAKER_01: 30:10

English, please.

SPEAKER_00: 30:19

So it's in the log. It looks like Which is pretty close to work. So there was There was. another one it looks like I'm trying to get because the click or the the link that she sent me is I can't just give me the name so I can look it up because I'm only finding one that attempted a month ago to delete that great podcast you jerk well that is in the name read the name punk alright okay here we go shooting okay here we go here we go got it sort of there's not a lot of information may your soul rest in peace justice for you day shooting incident in dinger yeah so that's not very far from where I live update again it's not in English okay now let's see what it does ah sweet sorry I didn't mean to blow your ears out there okay got it Law City the victim of a stabbing in a baranga also they were stabbed okay in Barangay San Marcelino district of Ding Lawag restaurant the victim is 31 year old resident according to police major Norman somebody the chief of police Philippine police singers after the incident was reported many people went to the area where the shooting occurred so now it's a shooting shooting occurred and the victim was taking the hospital with injuries to his back it was discovered that there was a bullet wound in the victim's head 45 caliber according to the investigation the victim was found at a business nearest suspect was beaten up so there that didn't really help too much but apparently from according to my wife it has to do with like you know the contractor stuff but I don't know it's kind of crazy you know the last time I rode on the bus with my wife to Manila I was man my anxiety was just going crazy and I was took me forever to kind of relax just because of you know the stuff that but you can't live life in fear you know anyway this is a long episode I'm gonna have to cut this down I think but yeah so it's crazy but I you know the corrup the corruption's gotta stop so they need to be held accountable so that's all good so you know hopefully it stops they give that money back they need to they need to reclaim all their assets and and you know take the money back and they need to go to jail man anyway that's the thing they only put they only put like drug addicts and stuff drug dealers and maybe people that have done some thefts like small time you know it's the only people that end up in jail here it's like people that are corrupt influential rich people never end up in jail here which you know that happens in the states too but there are people that do end up in jail that are rich and powerful in the states as well so anyway that's it let me know what you think do you agree with all the stuff going on should somebody who's corrupt like that is it justified for but again I don't think I don't think it was you know retaliation for what he did I think it was another corrupt individual trying to cover their tracks that's what I think anyway thanks for hanging out appreciate your time have a good cup of coffee and I'll see you next time all right God bless bye