Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has rejected accusations by his estranged sister, Senator Imee Marcos, that he has been a long-term drug user, at a time when the country is witnessing mass protests against corruption.
On Monday, the senator alleged that her brother had developed a cocaine dependency that affected his governance, contributing to corruption and poor decision-making.
Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro, the president’s spokesperson, dismissed the claims as baseless, describing them as recycled accusations that have long been disproved.
Speaking to a large crowd at a Manila park rally organised by a religious group, Senator Imee said her brother’s drug use began during the presidency of their father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr — who ruled from 1965 to 1986 — and continues to this day.
Without providing evidence, she claimed the president’s addiction became the cause of a “flood of corruption, the lack of direction and very wrong decisions, the absence of accountability and justice”. She also alleged that the president’s wife and children were involved in drug use.
Castro criticised the senator for not addressing former President Rodrigo Duterte, who has acknowledged past fentanyl use and, according to critics, may be linked to corruption along with his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte. Both have denied wrongdoing.
When Marcos Jr was campaigning for the presidency in 2021, his spokesperson released reports from a private hospital and the national police laboratory showing he tested negative for cocaine and methamphetamine.
Allegations amid corruption scandal
Castro has labelled Imee’s statements as a distraction from ongoing investigations into a corruption scandal involving flood control projects that may implicate some of her Senate allies.
“Sen Imee, I hope you’ll be a patriot and help in the investigation that your own brother has been doing and condemn all the corrupt,” Castro said. “Don’t side with them, don’t hide them. Let President Marcos work to stop all the corruption.”
Marcos’s administration is investigating alleged corruption linked to ghost flood-control projects that cost taxpayers billions of pesos. Officials are accused of pocketing kickbacks from contracts to construct thousands of flood defences, many of which were either made with substandard materials or never built.
The Department of Finance estimates that the Philippine economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos ($2bn) from 2023 to 2025 due to corruption in flood-control projects. The country’s economic planning minister has said up to 70 percent of public flood-control funds may have been lost since the scandal surfaced.
The crisis comes as the Philippines has faced more than 20 storms this year. Most recently, Typhoon Kalmaegi killed at least 269 in early November, followed days later by Typhoon Fung-wong, displacing 1.4 million people and killing 28.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Manila on Sunday, demanding accountability from authorities, including allies of Marcos. The three-day rally organised by the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), or Church of Christ – a powerful Philippine religious group – drew hundreds of thousands of participants and disrupted schools, roads, and offices.
Marcos has promised that officials involved in the scandal would face legal action by the end of the year. “They’ll be jailed – there’s no merry Christmas for them,” he said.
The INC had endorsed the candidacies of Marcos and Sara Duterte in 2022. However, after a falling-out between Marcos and Sara Duterte, the INC has shifted its support towards Duterte, the vice president.
Despite setting up a panel to investigate alleged corruption, no notable arrests have been made nearly 100 days into the inquiry. Marcos, whose father faced accusations of widespread corruption, framed the crackdown as part of a broader campaign for transparency and accountability.
A recent poll from the social research institute Social Weather Stations, however, indicated that more than 80 percent of Metro Manila residents believe corruption has worsened under Marcos’s administration.
