PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Friday he will endorse a successor, who will not only continue his legacy of weeding out corruption in the government and sustain the country’s growth through nation-building, but also run against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte in the 2028 presidential elections.
Currently, only Duterte, who is facing an impeachment trial in the Senate, has publicly announced her intention to run as president in the 2028 polls.
Marcos said he is looking for a like-minded candidate who will sustain the reforms he initiated to prevent public works anomalies as well as preventing pork barrel or government funds used by politicians for pet projects that aim to please voters.
‘The government has to continue to do that because corruption is not, is not, uh, is not a, is not a Filipino problem. Corruption is a human problem. There is corruption everywhere. What you want to do is to lessen and if not eliminate as much as possible,’ Marcos said at the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines Presidential Luncheon in Manila on Friday.
‘The candidate I will endorse will be somebody who I am confident will continue what we have begun in terms of the anti-corruption push,’ he added.
Among the achievements of his campaign against corruption, which he stated in his fourth State of the Nation Address (Sona) last year, Marcos said, was the Sumbong sa Pangulo website, which was launched in August 2025, where the public can report non-operational or anomalous flood control projects.
As of May 31, the website already had 11,756 reports of defective flood control projects, 2,255 of which were unfinished, and 2,960 which were non-existent.
Marcos said he also ordered reforms in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to make sure its operations are more transparent.
He said the government is trying to remove discretionary decisions from government officials and employees in transactions by promoting digitalization.
‘So digitalization is our, is our most powerful tool for that because we remove that human element where wastage, uh, corruption can creep into,’ Marcos said.
The chief executive said he hopes the next president will also continue holding dialogues with the public and local government units so they can contribute to ‘nation building.’
‘Hopefully we have started that process once again of nation building, that we are making the country better. We’re not just custodians and just, you know, just making sure to do the same, whatever the last admin did,’ Marcos said.
‘That’s the legacy I hope to leave; that now the government is your partner hand in hand with every citizen, with every sector, hand in hand trying to build a better Philippines, trying to make the Philippines better,’ he added.
Asked for an update on the announcement he made at his fifth Sona last month that the Office of the Ombudsman will soon be filing charges against his cousin, Leyte 1st District Representative Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, Marcos said he currently has no update on the matter.
Romualdez is facing plunder charges for his alleged involvement in acquiring about P56 billion of ill-gotten wealth from 2022 to 2025.
Marcos pointed out that while he does not interfere with the decision of the Ombudsman, he will call its office to get an update on Romualdez’s case.