​Former political prisoners, rights advocates to Ombudsman: Jail the corrupt, hold Marcos Jr. accountable

[KARAPATAN Public Information]

PRESS RELEASE
November 26, 2025

Reference: Bonifacio Ilagan, SELDA Spokesperson

Former political prisoners, rights advocates to Ombudsman: Jail the corrupt, hold Marcos Jr. accountable

The Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA), an organization of former political prisoners since Marcos Sr.’s martial law, and human rights alliance Karapatan held a protest action in front of the Office of the Ombudsman on November 26, 2025 to demand immediate and complete accountability for massive corruption in government.

“No one should be spared, not Marcos Jr., not Duterte, nor any of their minions,” said SELDA spokesperson Bonifacio Ilagan. "We chose the Ombudsman's doorstep today because this is the primary office mandated to hold the powerful accountable,” he added.

SELDA asserted that the continuing failure to prosecute and jail the highest-ranking officials involved in massive corruption perpetuates the cycle of poverty and injustice. “Marcos Sr. and the Marcoses have yet to be held fully accountable for their brazen plunder of public funds during the elder Marcos dictatorship. They haven’t even paid the PhP203 billion estate tax that they are obliged to pay. This is the classic example of impunity,” Ilagan said.

SELDA said that the Marcoses continue to get away with plunder and corruption, as eight cases against them have been dismissed by the Sandiganbayan and Supreme. The eight cases represent at least PhP245 billions worth of ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses. As of 2021, only PhP174 billions in assets have been recovered, out of the estimated $10 billion hauled off by the Marcoses during the nearly two decades of the Marcos Sr. Presidency.

The protesters called on the Ombudsman to expedite investigations of cases and the prosecution of high officials accused of large-scale plunder and abuse of public funds, particularly in relation to cases linking Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to corruption through insertions and unprogrammed allocations as exposed by former Rep. Zaldy Co.  

“It is not enough that lower-ranking suspects have been charged and arrested. Why are there no investigations on the accountability of Marcos Jr and the roles of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Budget and Management Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, Undersecretaries Trygve Olaivar, Adrian Bersamin, and Jojo Cadiz?
Accountability must reach the topmost echelons of power in Malacañang, because only fools will believe that they are not aware or are  not the most responsible for the trillions worth of pocketed funds from the allocations for flood control projects,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay.

"The money stolen through graft and corruption is money robbed from social services, health care and education for the poor," Palabay emphasized. "If the Ombudsman fails its constitutional mandate to prosecute the worst offenders, it will send a clear message: that the campaign to end the culture of impunity spares the biggest and most powerful culprits and is not a thoroughgoing one."

"Instead of criminalizing dissent and hauling farmers, labor organizers, activists, and critics to jail," said Ilagan, “decisive steps should be taken to end the very corruption and oppression they are protesting. Justice requires that all those who abused their power for personal gain be held accountable, no matter who they are," Ilagan concluded.

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KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties.  It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign.