Tens of thousands of people are gathering in the Philippines’ capital, Manila, demanding accountability over a corruption scandal linked to flood-control projects and top government officials, including allies of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The three-day rally, which begins on Sunday, is the latest display of outrage over the discovery that thousands of flood defence projects across the typhoon-prone country were made from substandard materials or simply did not exist.

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Police estimated that 27,000 members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, or Church of Christ, gathered in Manila’s Rizal Park before noon, many wearing white and carrying anticorruption placards, for the afternoon demonstration.

Brother Edwin Zabala, spokesman for the church, said the three-day rally is aimed at expressing “our sentiment and lend the voice of the Iglesia ni Cristo to the calls of many of our countrymen condemning the enormous evil involving many government officials”.

Other groups were scheduled to hold a separate anticorruption protest later on Sunday at the People Power Monument in suburban Quezon city.

The country’s military reaffirmed support for the government before the planned demonstrations in Manila, where the Philippine National Police say they will deploy 15,000 police as security.

The protests follow allegations that numerous well-connected figures, including Marcos’s cousin and former House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez, pocketed large sums for anti-flooding projects that were low in quality or never completed at all.

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Public outrage has flared again after recent storms hammered large swaths of the country earlier this month and left at least 259 people dead, and Marcos has promised that those implicated in the scandal would be in jail before the Christmas holiday.

The Department of Finance has estimated that the country lost up to 118.5 billion pesos ($2bn) to corruption in flood-control projects between 2023 and 2025, some of them referred to as “ghost infrastructure projects”.

A fact-finding commission has filed criminal complaints for corruption against 37 people, including senators, members of Congress, and wealthy businesspeople. Criminal complaints have also been filed against 86 construction company executives and nine government officials for allegedly evading nearly 9 billion pesos ($153m) in taxes.

Among those accused are lawmakers opposed to and allied with Marcos. In addition to Romualdez, these include Senate President Chiz Escudero, as well as Senator Bong Go, a key ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

All three have denied wrongdoing.

Marcos has said his cousin will not face criminal charges “as yet” due to a lack of evidence, but added that “no one is exempt” from the investigation.

“We don’t file cases for optics,” he said. “We file cases to put people in jail.”

Duterte, a harsh Marcos critic, was detained by the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands in March for alleged crimes against humanity over his brutal anti-drug crackdowns.

His daughter, the current vice president, said Marcos should also be held accountable and jailed for approving the 2025 national budget, which appropriated billions for flood control projects.

There have been isolated calls, including by some pro-Duterte supporters, for the military to withdraw support from Marcos, but Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff, General Romeo Brawner Jr, has repeatedly rejected those calls.

“With full conviction, I assure the public that the armed forces will not engage in any action that violates the Constitution. Not today, not tomorrow and certainly not under my watch,” Brawner said.

The military “remains steadfast in preserving peace, supporting lawful civic expression and protecting the stability and democratic institutions of the republic”, he added.

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