MANILA, Philippines, Nov 13, (AP): Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Thursday that many of at least 37 powerful senators, members of Congress and wealthy businesspeople implicated in a massive corruption scandal involving flood control projects would be locked up in jail by Christmas, as he tried to quell public outrage and street protests.

Marcos said an independent fact-finding commission he created has filed criminal complaints for graft and corruption and plunder, a non-bailable offense, against the 37 suspects. Criminal complaints have also been filed against 86 construction company executives and nine government officials for allegedly evading taxes totaling nearly 9 billion pesos ($152 million).

Corruption has been blamed for substandard, defective or non-existent flood control projects across the country. It’s a especially sensitive issue in the Philippines, one of the countries most prone to deadly typhoons, floodings and extreme weather in Asia. Typhoon Kalmaegi left at least 232 people dead last week, mostly in flash floods, with 125 others missing in the country’s central region.

Super Typhoon Fung-wong lashed the northern Philippines just days later, leaving at least 27 dead, two missing and millions of people affected by flash floods and landslides. "I know that before Christmas, the cases of many of those who were named would be concluded and they would end up in jail,” Marcos said and added without elaborating that more anomalies were set to be discovered.

The lawsuits were strong and aimed to recover the huge funds that were stolen, he said. "We don’t file cases for optics,” Marcos said. "We file cases to put people in jail.” Marcos spoke in a televised news conference to report on progress in a crackdown he vowed to carry out in July in his annual state of the nation address before Congress.

The corruption scandal has sparked public outrage and street protests, including one planned for three days starting this weekend and another on Nov. 30. The government’s Anti-Money Laundering Council has issued seven orders to freeze the assets of corruption suspects, including 1,671 bank accounts, 144 real estate properties, 244 vehicles and other assets worth 6.3 billion pesos ($107 million), Marcos said.