Hundreds of thousands rally in Manila against flood-control graft scandal

Manila: Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos gathered on Sunday in the capital in the largest rally so far to demand accountability over a flood-control corruption scandal that has implicated powerful members of Congress and top government officials.

Various groups have protested in recent months following the discovery that thousands of flood defence projects across one of the world’s most typhoon-prone countries were substandard, incomplete or simply did not exist.

Government engineers, public works officials and construction company executives have testified under oath in hearings by the Senate and a fact-finding commission that members of

Congress and officials at the Department of Public Works and Highways took kickbacks from construction companies to help them win lucrative contracts and avoid accountability. Most denied the allegations.

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said about 320,000 members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, or Church of Christ, led the start of the three-day rally in Manila’s

Rizal Park, many wearing white and carrying anti-corruption placards.

Hundreds, including retired generals, held a separate anti-corruption protest late Sunday at the “People Power” monument in suburban Quezon City.

Iglesia is an influential group that votes as a bloc and is courted by

political candidates during elections.

The police, backed by the military, went on full alert and deployed thousands of personnel to secure the weekend rallies, although the government expects them to be peaceful, according to a confidential security assessment seen by

The Associated Press.