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A public school teacher remains resigned to inundation as a constant part of existence.

This teacher uses a rowboat through inundated streets nearly every day. This is the sole method to travel from her home in the outskirts to the heart of Apalit near the Philippine capital.

Her transportation brings her to school, and to the health center where she is undergoing therapy for her condition. She notes she encounters dry streets for a brief period in the year.

Yet now she is deeply frustrated.

An unusually fierce weather pattern has disrupted daily life like never before in the South East Asian nation, and ignited outrage and claims about graft in public works.

Heavy precipitation have left stuck countless people during travel, submerged automobiles in thoroughfares that have transformed into rivers and resulted in outbreaks of a waterborne disease, an illness affecting the liver that spreads through the excrement of rodents.

"It’s a betrayal," the teacher says. "I labor diligently, I am frugal and levies are taken from my salary each pay period. I find out that huge amounts in government money are taken advantage of by corrupt politicians."

Such claims that is resonating nationwide, where people are asking why the state cannot tame the inundation with the billions of public money it invests in infrastructure like roads, overpasses and embankments.

Their anger is noticeable on online platforms, digital spaces and microblogging sites, where they are expressing about officials and construction tycoons who they allege win contracts for ghost projects that never materialise.

The leader Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos personally admitted this as a continuing challenge on a trip to examine a water management structure that he then realized did not exist. The minister later said graft had claimed the majority of taxpayer resources earmarked for flood control.

A senior lawmaker, who has been implicated, has resigned, although he denies any wrongdoing. Meanwhile the head of the Senate has been ousted after it was revealed that a contractor who won a government bid was found to have contributed money to his political run, which is prohibited.

Angry Filipinos have been stitching together AI videos of politicians as crocodiles, a symbol of avarice. Plenty of the frustration is also focused on children of privilege, the descendants of affluent politicians or contractors, whose extravagant lives are all over social media.

Scrolling through her social media, she says she identifies with a piece of music from over a decade ago which has become the background to the public fury.

The track, by local artist Gloc-9, questions why politicians are unable to empathise with everyday citizens. Its name means position in the local language, and it channels the frustration at those with parliamentary seats who seem distant from the lives of everyday Filipinos.

"It is our real situation," the resident says. "There are no better words."

An extensive integrity protest is already scheduled for Sunday, 21 September—the observance of the day in 1972 when the dictator Ferdinand Marcos enacted emergency rule.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who is now president—Bongbong Marcos—is fully conscious of how far popular outrage can go. Historically, public demonstrations that drove his father from power in that year, ending a lengthy dictatorship that misappropriated billions from the state.

More recently, anti-corruption protests forced governmental adjustments in Indonesia and, only days ago, toppled the government in Nepal. Accordingly on Monday, as Filipinos demanded an explanation, the leader announced an inquiry that would "expose the cheats and find out how much they stole."

"Were I not in office, I might be joining the protests with them," he told reporters.

"Ensure they understand how much they wronged you, how they stole from you. Tell them, make your voice heard, protest—just make it peaceful."

This mirrored prior remarks when he promised improved conditions while appearing to pin the responsibility elsewhere. He blamed unethical leaders and contractors for the significant shortage of infrastructure: "You should be ashamed," he said.

Later in a public statement he said he had discovered a "disturbing" fact: the government department had hired only few contractors to build public works worth billions in local currency ($£7.1bn).

Each of these firms are now under scrutiny and the central bank has blocked their funds, but the most attention has gone to one family-owned business. It belongs to business owners, who were from poor families but are now a wealthy, successful couple engaged in social media. Before the floods controversy, Ms Discaya was best known for her failed attempt to become local leader of a urban area.

In the past year the couple were interviewed on online shows, where they shared their humble beginnings story. A host described it as "uplifting". But in the wake of the disastrous flooding, those videos have resurfaced as sources of outrage.

Viewers see the couple flaunting their multiple luxury cars, including a premium automobile, a SUV and a sports utility vehicle. They purchased some models in contrasting hues, black and white.

The backlash was immediate. The couple were summoned by the government inquiries for investigations, and authorities banned their firm, while protesters smeared the gates to their office with mud and spray-painted the word "offender".

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