Although Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is no longer facing two impeachment accusations, the corruption scandal still plagues him because of “text messages” that have come to light that reveal he received money.
Copies of correspondence between Marcos Jr. and his alleged bagmen regarding billions of pesos in kickbacks from fictitious public works budgets that the president allegedly authorised personally have reportedly been viewed by at least three lawmakers.
Tinio noted that Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, a senior public works official, disclosed that Marcos personally directed the increase of P100 billion (Dh6.33 billion) to the 2024 national budget. Bernardo claimed to have personally handled over half of the P52 billion, of which he gave Marcos P8 billion (Dh506 million).
According to Tinio, one of Marcos’ bagmen, former Presidential Legislative Liaison undersecretary Adrian Bersamin, son of former executive secretary Lucas Bersamin, told Marcos on March 24, 2025, that a P8 billion payoff had been delivered, to which Marcos allegedly replied, “Ok. The [P]7.122 [billion] delivery to me is complete, sir…I will finish the computation today,” Bersamin allegedly wrote in a combination of Filipino and English in their correspondence.
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