2025 presented a situation that the nation had never faced in its eight decades of independent existence: every person in the Constitutional line of succession to the Presidency was accused, or was facing a charge of violation of his or her oath of office.
In the 1997 Christmas Day speech that she delivered to the British people amid the public outrage generated by the tragic death of Princess Diana a few months earlier, the late Queen Elizabeth II used two Latin words to describe the year that was about to end. 1997, Her Majesty said, had been an annus horribilis – horrible year – for the British nation and the Royal Family.
The same Latin words can very well be used to described the Filipino nation’s 2025. The year that is about to end has been a horrible year – an annus horribilis – for this country. One can go further than that: 2025 has been the worst year for this country in its entire eight- decade history as an independent nation, with the exception of martial law year 1972.
Four things combined to make 2025 an annus horribilis for the Philippines: the flood-control projects scandal, the impeachment of the Vice President of the Republic, higher tariffs on Philippine exports to the U.S. and the International Criminal Court’s arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte. Throw in the slowing of the economy in the year’s second half, and you have a truly horrible year.
Starting with the historic exchange/import control scandal of the 1950s, the operations of the Philippine government have always been attended by corruption of one degree of another. But the nature and scope of the flood – control projects scandal of 2025 is unlike anything that this country has ever seen. The conspirators – representatives, senators, contractors and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials – have been dealing with one another in terms of billions, not million, of pesos of public money. The sizes of the conspiratorial payments made to members of both Houses of Congress have been mind-boggling, and the Filipino people are outraged.
The scandal has caused deep and far-reaching damage to this country’s governmental system, which is largely based on the assumption that the men and women who the citizenry votes into office will use their authority for the progress and well-being of the people. In 2025 Filipinos learned that the members of Congress used their democratically obtained power to serve their personal ends, not the nation’s.
The damage caused to this country by the flood-control projects scandal has extended beyond its shores. It has given the international community – especially the sources of investments and credit – the impression of a poorly managed bureaucracy and of a government unable and unhulling to steadfastly devote the nation’s resources to its economic development.
The administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has taken step to try and convince a skeptical citizenry that it is serious about correcting the situation and exacting accountability from all the apparently guilty parties. Towards the end of 2025 the general sentiment is that the Marcos Administration is not totally committed to the idea of cleaning up the horrendous mess, as evidenced by the fact that the persons widely believed to be the proverbial big fish have yet to be charged.
Whatever the Marcos administration does in the days immediately ahead, one thing is clear: the nation has by no means heard the last of the flood-control projects scandal. The hugeness of the amounts stolen from the public coffers will see to that.
2025 presented a situation that the nation had never faced in its eight decades of independent existence: every person in the Constitutional line of succession to the Presidency was accused, or was facing a charge of violation of his or her oath of office. Former Rep. Zaldy Co, now a fugitive from justice, has accused President Marcos of being one of the principals in the flood-control projects scandal.
Vice President Sara Duterte was impeached and is about to be impeached again. Former Senate president Francis Escudero was said to have benefited from the scandal and charge are apparently being readied against former House Speaker Martin Romualdez on account of the scandal.
As a time of turmoil and disunity generated by the attempted impeachment of Vice President Duterte, the arrest in March of former President Duterte by the International Criminal Court further inflamed partisan and regional disunity at a time when the nation needed stability and political cohesion to confront the headwinds that the economy was beginning to face, especially the 19 percent later 20 pesos tariff imposed on Philippine exports by the newly installed administration of US President Donald Trump.
The subsequent exemption of exports of semi-conductors and other electronic products – these comprise around 52 percent of total Philippine exports – from the tariff greatly reduced the potential damage to this country’s merchandise trade balance.
In the year’s only positive 2025 saw the continuation of the rate- easing cycle of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The 25-basis-points cut in December – the fifth for the year – reduced the central bank’s overnight barrowing rate to 4.5 percent. The easing was made possible by benign inflation, the slowing of the economy in the third quarter and the probable lower growth in the year’s last quarter in the wake of reduced government investment spending. The inflation rate settled at 1.5 percent in November, bringing 2025’s 11–month average to 1.6 percent.
(llagasjessa@yahoo.com).
