Amid corruption furor at home, Philippines’ Marcos skips UN assembly again
For the third straight year, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will not attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York, as a trillion-peso corruption scandal over flood-control projects continues to grip the Southeast Asian nation.
Marcos will skip the 80th assembly to focus on domestic issues, according to his communications secretary, and has tapped his foreign affairs secretary, Maria Theresa Lazaro, to lead the Philippine delegation in his stead.
This year’s gathering, which opened September 9, would have marked only the second time Marcos addressed the assembly. He attended in 2022, just months after taking office, where he revealed Manila’s bid for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
The high-level General Debate is scheduled for September 23 to 27, with the session closing on September 29.
Marcos has not specified which issues require his attention at home, but the country has been shaken by revelations of widespread corruption in public works programs, particularly flood-control projects, with groups estimating losses in the trillions of pesos.
Protest organizers have called for mass demonstrations on September 21, the anniversary of the 1972 declaration of martial law by Mr. Marcos’s father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. The Armed Forces of the Philippines has been placed on red alert ahead of the protests.
Marcos has expressed sympathy for the rallies, saying he shared public anger over corruption and might be “out on the streets” too if he were not president, while urging protesters to keep the demonstrations peaceful.
The unrest comes amid a volatile political climate across Asia, where youth-led uprisings have toppled the government in Nepal and shaken the Prabowo administration in Indonesia in recent weeks.
At the U.N., the Philippines is still expected to take part in discussions on artificial intelligence, climate financing, migration, biodiversity and maritime security, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
“She (Secretary Lazaro) will also meet with foreign ministers to strengthen bilateral and multilateral ties, promote Philippine interests and advance national priorities,” the agency said in a statement.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
