TENS of thousands gathered today for the start of a three-day rally in the Philippine capital to demand accountability over a flood-control corruption scandal that has implicated powerful members of Congress and top government officials.

It’s the latest show of outrage over accusations of widespread corruption in flood-control projects in one of the world’s most typhoon-prone countries.

Various groups have protested in recent months following the discovery that thousands of flood defence projects across the country were substandard, incomplete or simply did not exist.

Government engineers, public works officials and construction company executives have testified under oath in hearings by the Senate and a fact-finding commission that members of Congress and officials at the Department of Public Works and Highways took kickbacks from construction companies to help them win lucrative contracts and avoid accountability.

Most have denied the allegations.

Police estimated that about 130,000 members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, or Church of Christ, gathered in Manila’s Rizal Park by mid-afternoon ahead of the rally.

Other groups were scheduled to hold a separate anti-corruption protest later on Sunday at the “People Power” monument in suburban Quezon city.

Iglesia is an influential group that votes as a bloc and is courted by political candidates during elections.

During a September 21 anti-corruption demonstration, a few hundred black-clad protesters threw rocks, bottles and firebombs at policemen near the presidential palace in Manila, injuring more than 100 officers.

The presidential palace went on security lockdown over the weekend, with major access roads barricaded by anti-riot police forces.

National police chief Lieutenant General Jose Melencio Nartatez Jnr ordered law enforcement to exercise “maximum tolerance” in Sunday’s rallies.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has been trying to quell public outrage and street protests sparked by the scandal, saying on Thursday that many of the powerful senators, members of Congress and wealthy businesspeople implicated in the scandal would be in jail by Christmas.