Over 5000 youth and students from various universities in Metro Manila trooped to Mendiola Peace Arch on Friday, October 17, for the National Day of Action against Corruption. The mobilization was a direct response and a challenge to the ongoing proceedings regarding corruption.
“It has been two months since the flood control controversy. No one is still held accountable,” Alecx Ymson, the spokesperson for One U-Belt, said. Ymson, like the thousands of students who protested, lamented the seemingly slow-paced proceedings of the investigation while students like him suffer from the continued inconvenience of floods and rising prices of commodities and school fees.
“The corrupt have been flooding us with corruption, but we are comforted with the flooding of protests led by the people seeking accountability, a deluge that they could never suppress,” Ymson stated.
First-timers join protest
At least 17 universities in Metro Manila and 10 universities within the Ilocos Region, Southern Luzon, Central Luzon, and Visayas joined the mass mobilization on Friday and staged their own walk-outs.
Prior to these, walk-outs were organized on an almost weekly basis, with 35,000 students participating, according to Kabataan Partylist (KPL).
For Jem (not his real name), an Electronics student from Technological University of the Philippines (TUP), the decision to join the anti-corruption mobilization was borne not just out of sheer curiosity, but rather of necessity.
It was his first time attending a mobilization. Deterrents had always been present before when it came to making his decisions in joining a rally, he shared, stating that his family, religion, or even the political climate in his university made protests scarier than they were perceived to be.
“Even in our school, you could feel the effects of corruption, especially with the failure of the flood control projects along Taft. We usually experience suspensions for a few hours of rain. Learning is tough because even if we shift to online classes, you can’t really feel like it’s implemented correctly. It’s hard to study under those conditions,” he added.
Meanwhile, Nikky (not her real name), a 2nd-year psychology student from the National Teachers College (NTC), shared that her frustration over the investigation proceedings compelled her to join the mobilization despite it being her first time experiencing it.
“Nobody is held accountable yet. It’s even infuriating to see contractors like Discaya without remorse. The investigations are taking too long,” she expressed.
Nikky’s parents are working in the informal sector, she added. She expressed the fury she felt in seeing the misallocation of the national budget, being used to fuel corruption instead of social services.
“My parents find it hard to scrounge up enough funds to make me study comfortably in NTC, while these politicians cannot even allot enough budget for education,” she lamented.
KPL said that the mobilization served as a declaration of the Filipino youth vowing not to be silent in the face of corruption and plunder.
“Today’s mobilization is a resounding continuation of the historic Baha sa Luneta and march to Mendiola last September 21. The growing momentum of various university walkouts across the entire Philippines, especially in NCR, after September 21 and before today, show that the youth are wide awake and unafraid.
Marcos Jr. recently claimed that the issue of corruption would not reach Malacañang, but today’s action proves otherwise. The students brought the fight straight to his doorstep and the youth are here to expose the lies, the stolen billions, and the gross betrayal of public trust,” the partylist said in its online statement.
Making history
For some students, the protest also made history as school communities that rarely join mobilizations were also present.
Kyle, an Engineering student from Mapua University, shared that the last time a mobilization was joined by Mapuans was 20 years ago.
“Seeing the Mapuans mobilize makes me proud. Engineering students from our university are here. It just debunks the notion that we are apolitical. We may be burdened by requirements that hinder us from expressing our beliefs, but here we are calling for accountability over corruption,” he said.
Kyle also shared the disappointment they felt as engineering students when they realized how their profession was taken advantage of and became involved with the flood control controversy.
“It is disappointing. We aspire to become good engineers, but some of the contractors and engineers failed the code of ethics that our profession is supposed to adhere to. They should have known better. If the flood control projects were implemented correctly in the first place, we wouldn’t even be here,” he lamented.
Kyle added that their community will not stop with just this one protest, saying that until accountability is upheld, more and more students will continue to speak out.
“We should hold on to our rage and remain active in our cause. We shouldn’t be silent in the face of the problems that our country is facing,” he noted.
For KPL representative Atty. Renee Co, staging walk-outs and participating in mobilizations serves as the youth’s biggest investment in securing a better future in a country riddled by plunder.
“This is the biggest investment for our future. This is the best use of our time and energy. Can you imagine the alternative? The alternative would be accepting the pork barrel and corruption, as if everything is normal. Trillions of pesos are siphoned from social services like education and funneled to line the pockets of the few, to fund their mansions and cater to their luxuries, while the majority of the Filipino people are impoverished,” she said.
The lawmaker emphasized the importance of dissent among the youth, especially with the resolution of the investigation still out of sight and the recent passage of the P6.7 trillion national budget of 2026, a budget she described as filled with pork and corruption.
“[Standing against corruption] should be our priority [as youth] and not perpetuating the current rotting system,” she emphasized.
