One year after 'Mahiya naman kayo!': What has happened since Marcos' 2025 SONA?
It’s been a year since President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. delivered one of the most memorable lines of his 2025 State of the Nation Address, publicly calling out government officials allegedly involved in corruption—particularly in flood control initiatives—amid widespread flooding across the country.
"Sa mga nakikipagsabwatan upang kunin ang pondo ng bayan at nakawin ang kinabukasan ng ating mga mamamayan, mahiya naman kayo sa inyong mga kapwa Pilipino," he said, to much applause and cheers at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City. “Mahiya naman kayo sa mga kabahayan nating naanod o nalubog sa mga pagbaha. Mahiya naman kayo lalo sa mga anak natin na magmamana sa mga utang na ginawa ninyo nang ibinulsa niyo lang ang pera!"
In the same speech, the President acknowledged public dissatisfaction with his administration's performance, saying the results of the 2025 midterm polls—where several of his allies, particularly in the Senate race, fell short—sent a clear message: “Bigo at dismayado ang mga tao sa pamahalaan, lalo na ang mga nasa pangunahing serbisyo."
"Kailangan pa nating mas lalong galingan. Kailangan pa natin mas lalong bilisan," he said. “Ibubuhos pa natin ang lahat-lahat hindi lang para mapantayan kundi para mahigitan ang pagbibigay sa ating mga kababayan.”
A year after his fourth SONA, what has changed? Let's take a look back at what has happened over the past year ahead of his 2026 address on Monday, July 27.
Flood control scandal
Hearings at the House of Representatives and the Senate in late 2025 revealed billions of pesos lost to corruption in “ghost” flood control projects.
According to the Department of Finance, the resulting economic losses reached between P42.3 billion and P118.5 billion from 2023 to 2025—that’s around 95,000 to 266,000 jobs that could have gone to Filipino workers.
'Sumbong sa Pangulo' website launch
In August 2025, a month after Marcos' SONA, Marcos introduced the “Sumbong sa Pangulo” website to let the public track and report alleged irregularities in flood control projects such as broken structures, lacking equipment, and unfinished work.
It also included a map featuring street-view images of the different projects along with a list of completed flood control initiatives per region and year of completion.
The formation of the ICI
The Independent Commission for Infrastructure was created in September 2025 to look into irregularities in flood control projects in the past decade. It remained operational only until March this year.
According to ICI chairperson Andres Reyes, the Commission was able to turn over to the Office of the Ombudsman "all documents, evidence, and findings gathered in the course of its investigation,” which were later submitted to the Department of Justice and the Department of Public Works and Highways for their review.
Criminal charges
The Office of the Ombudsman has since filed various graft, malversation, and plunder charges against high-profile politicians and DPWH officials.
In November 2025, former Rep. Zaldy Co and other DPWH officials were charged with graft and malversation in connection with a P289-million flood control project in Oriental Mindoro.
Former senator Bong Revilla and DPWH's Brice Hernandez were also slapped with graft and malversation raps in January this year over an alleged anomalous flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan that cost P92.8 million.
In May 2026, Senator Jinggoy Estrada and former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan were charged with plunder and two counts of graft involving alleged kickbacks from flood control initiatives.
Local trial courts are also handling related criminal charges and civil complaints against other individuals, including DPWH contractors Sarah and Curlee Discaya. They are facing raps over "ghost" flood control projects worth millions of pesos in places like Davao Occidental and Bulacan.
Revilla, Hernandez, Estrada, Bonoan, and the Discayas are now under the custody of authorities, while Co remains at large.
Preliminary probe vs Romualdez, Co
A few days before Marcos' 2026 SONA, the Office of the Ombudsman filed a complaint for preliminary investigation against former House Speaker Martin Romualdez and Co. They are being investigated for plunder, direct and indirect bribery, graft, and money laundering.
According to the Ombudsman, the respondents allegedly "concerted and coordinated acts, performed in conspiracy with one another, of unlawfully amassing, accumulating, and acquiring ill-gotten wealth" from 2022 to 2025, amassing around P56 billion.
The Ombudsman identified Romualdez as the "central figure" in the flood control scheme, citing first-hand testimonies from eight of Co's former security personnel, who supposedly personally witnessed money exchanges between Co and Romualdez.
"We remain confident that once the facts are examined objectively and the evidence is tested under the law, Representative Romualdez will be able to clear his name," Romualdez's spokesperson, Atty. Elaine Atienza, said in a statement. Co has yet to comment on this development.
As of March 2026, a total of P611,381,500 has been returned to the Department of Justice in its investigation into the flood control scam.
Other corruption allegations against high-ranking figures
Beyond the flood control scandal, there are other high-ranking politicians facing major corruption allegations.
The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte officially opened on July 6. After the presentation of the fourth article of impeachment related to her alleged "kill" threats against Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Romualdez, the House prosecution is set to present evidence on the first article of impeachment about her alleged culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust in connection with her "alleged misuse, misappropriation, and irregular disbursement of confidential funds" at the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education.
Per the House prosecution, Duterte's offices "spent P612.5 million in confidential funds, including P125 million in just 11 days at the OVP in December 2022, through allegedly irregular and undocumented disbursements, including acknowledgment receipts bearing fictitious names."
On Day 7 of the trial, presiding officer, senator-judge Chiz Escudero announced the approval of the issuance of subpoenas for Duterte's bank, BIR, and AMLC records from 2007 to 2021. Other articles of impeachment against the VP cover unexplained wealth (second article) and bribery (third article). If found guilty of the charges, she will be removed from her current post and permanently barred from holding public office.
Duterte ally, Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, was also arrested in early July over his nondisclosure of P75 million in campaign donations in 2025. He's facing non-bailable plunder charges.
According to the Ombudsman, Marcoleta admitted on TV in November 2025 to receiving the said funds as donations during his senatorial campaign, but he did not declare them in his asset statements. This opened him to plunder and bribery investigations.
The senator surrendered on July 6 after the Sandiganbayan 3rd Division served an arrest warrant against him.
Philippine economy and other sectors
On July 1, the Philippines reached a major economic milestone with its upper-middle-income status, with the World Bank citing sustained economic growth, rising incomes, job creation, and declining poverty over the past decade. Economists, however, told PhilSTAR L!fe at the time that ordinary Filipinos wouldn’t feel any difference, especially since household finances still depend on family size, living expenses, financial obligations, and other factors.
While incomes have generally improved, many Filipinos still continue to struggle with the rising cost of living, with inflation remaining a persistent challenge. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the country’s headline inflation (overall inflation) eased from 6.8% in May to 6.4% the following month, bringing the average inflation rate for the first half of 2026 to 4.8%. The Philippine STAR reported that despite this, it’s still beyond the BSP’s target of 3%.
Electricity costs have been a growing concern for Filipinos in the past months. The STAR reported on July 27 that Sen. Erwin Tulfo, who serves as the chairperson of the Senate committee on energy, is pushing for an investigation into recurring electricity “bill shocks” following multiple complaints from households and businesses. The probe would look into what’s causing the abrupt increases and “craft long-term, consumer-oriented policies to address the country’s power pricing issues,” according to the media outlet.
Per The STAR, diesel prices reached as high as P170/liter, while gasoline prices exceeded P120/liter at the height of the Middle East conflict. With the interim peace agreement between the US and Iran came price rollbacks to below P100/liter, though the Department of Energy said pump prices are unlikely to return to pre-war levels of around P50-P60/liter anytime soon.
In his 2025 SONA, Marcos said his P20/kilo rice campaign promise had been fulfilled mainly through its KADIWA outlets. BusinessWorld reported in July this year that the program has so far generated P2.4 billion in sales following the distribution of 121,271 metric tons of rice to about 12.1 million beneficiaries. The initiative has expanded to 57 provinces, making it available through 805 KADIWA outlets, including 295 with regular selling schedules.
The President also identified education as one of his administration’s key priorities in last year's SONA. In his address then, he promised to address the country’s learning crisis and better prepare students for the workforce. Among the reforms introduced since was Technical-Vocational Education and Training into the senior high school curriculum that lets students earn national certifications even before their graduation. But despite these efforts, some challenges remain. In July, The STAR reported that the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) urged DepEd to fast-track its planned construction of classrooms after finding that it's facing a backlog of 166,000, which is higher than its previous estimate of 144,000. The commission also warned that the situation could worsen, with more than 51,000 classrooms expected to be over 50 years old by 2028 and likely needing renovations by then.
Marcos is set to deliver his 2026 SONA on Monday, July 27 at 4 p.m. Here are some issues that will likely be covered in his address.