Marcos says no regrets assuming presidency, calls it ‘greatest privilege’

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. over the weekend said he does not regret becoming president, calling it the “greatest privilege” to be able to act on issues and weed out what he described as the blatant and deeply rooted corruption in the Philippines.

“No, not for one moment,” Marcos responded when asked if he ever regretted being president in an exclusive interview by Vicky Morales aired on GMA’s “24 Oras Weekend” on Sunday.

“I am given the opportunity to actually—the privilege, the opportunity, and the chance to actually do something. All of the things that I complained about all my life, now I can do something about it. And that is the greatest privilege that anyone can be granted, so no, I don’t regret it,” he added.

This comes as Marcos in the same interview said he was shocked that corruption has been normalized in the country, with several probes now ongoing on the anomalous flood control projects that have been linked to several lawmakers.

“Nung ako ay governor, hindi ganito. At bukod pa sa laki ng halaga ng nakukuha ng kung sino-sino na tao na wala namang karapatan na bulsahin ang pera na ‘yan, bukod pa roon, ay hindi nila tinatago. Garapal na po,” he said.

(When I was governor, it wasn’t like this. Aside from the huge sums being taken by people who have no right to pocket that money, what’s worse is they don’t even try to hide it. It’s brazen.)

Just last week Marcos ordered a sweeping review of the proposed budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) under the National Expenditure Program (NEP), with the agency tasked to implement the flood control projects.

To recall, Marcos in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July warned government personnel who steal public funds—such as those for flood control projects—to have some shame.

He also earlier launched a website on flood control, and urged citizens to report any wrongdoings through the platform, as he found that only 15 firms have cornered 20% of contracts across the country.

“There's hope. Have hope. We've seen all of what people are complaining about or having to live with,” Marcos said.

“Yung kailangan ninyong pagtiyagaan, pagtiisan na araw-araw niyong mga buhay, alam namin ‘yun. At lahat ng aming gawin na kayang gawin, ginagawa namin pero ‘yun na nga ‘yung na—babalik na naman ako doon sa nasabi ko kanina na ang lalim ng kalawang. Ang lalim ng bulok,” he added.

(The hardships you have to go through, to endure every day in your life, we know about that. And everything we can possibly do, we are doing, but as I said earlier, the rot runs very deep. The decay is very deep),” he added. — BM, GMA Integrated News