The nationwide anti-corruption protest held on Bonifacio Day was flooded with various individuals, groups, and personalities demanding accountability for the trillions of pesos pocketed in flood control and infrastructure projects.
At the height of the political crisis, one thing stands clear for the protesters: President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte must be removed from office.
It has been two months since the country was inundated, not by the floods caused by overflowing drains due to the failure of waste management and flood control, nor by the controversial dolomite beach in Manila, but by a surge of tens of thousands of strong ranks among protesters who filled the streets with a unified call to demand accountability and transparency amidst the worsening corruption within the Marcos-Duterte administration. That, up until now, justice remains elusive.
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This year, there has been a unified call to launch a new “last quarter storm” following a series of anti-corruption protests that erupted nationwide. Multisectoral formations and groups were established, forging a firm consensus on how to move forward as expressions of dissent intensified. Even well-known celebrities and artists joined the demonstrations.
In EDSA, Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray delivered a powerful statement that cuts through the crowd, decrying how corruption wins.
“When corruption wins, ‘yung mga nakaupo lang ang nananalo!” she declared, condemning officials who enrich themselves while ordinary Filipinos drown in debt and floods.
“That’s why today we demand action! To the Ombudsman, file the cases now! To the senators, suspend the senators implicated. And to the Congress, pass the anti-political dynasty bill because power should not be inherited, it should be earned through service of the people,” she added.
Gray, whose global spotlight has long been a beacon for Filipino resilience, flocked into the streets and stepped onto the stage not as a beauty queen but as a fierce advocate, a Filipino citizen who is also affected by state neglect. Her speech highlighted her experience of poverty during her reign, where she visited slums and witnessed the human cost of systemic failure.
“Pilipinas… ang hirap mong mahalin, pero sa oras ng laban, hindi ka namin iiwan,” she added in a Facebook post.
Meanwhile, at Luneta, Miss Earth Water 2024 and environmental advocate under Panatang Luntian Bea Millan-Windorski also slammed government corruption for allowing environmental degradation and climate injustice to persist in the country.
“From the reopening of US military bases that dump toxic waste into our waterways and minimize Filipino sovereignty, to wind turbine projects that affect areas of the Sierra Madre critical to preventing deadly floods, to nickel mining projects that threaten the livelihoods of Filipinos in Nueva Vizcaya and Mindanao, politicians and the DENR have proven time and time again that they value profit and foreign interests over the lives of the very constituents they are sworn to protect,” she said.
Millan-Windorski stated that the green energy transition cannot exist without climate justice and the inclusion of indigenous and marginalized voices.
“Our demands are simple: elected officials must live up to the oath they took while sworn into office and serve the Republic of the Philippines and its people above self-interest. We demand that every official, elected or appointed, who has stolen even a single peso from the Filipino people, resign, face legal consequences, and repay their ill-gotten wealth,” the beauty queen and environmental advocate added.
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On the other hand, veteran actress Carmi Martin and artist-comedian Marietta Tan Subong, known professionally as Pokwang, also participated in the nationwide protest against corruption.
Martin lamented that the very taxes artists work hard to earn are the same funds that corrupt officials pocket.
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“Kapag nag-aartista po kami… Hindi po kami p’wedeng magsabi na ‘P’wede bang ‘wag na kaming kaltasan ng tax?’ Kinukuha ‘yung tax namin pagkatapos ninanakaw lang at napakasakit sa’min noon,” Martin stated.
Pokwang then emphasized that the issue is a national concern, especially for future generations.
“Sobrang mahalaga po ito, hindi lang para sa sarili ko, hindi lang para sa pamilya ko kundi para sa lahat po ng future ng henerasyon na ito, sa bansang ito, sa kabataan, sa anak ko, sa ka-apo-apohan ko pang darating,” she said.
Also joining the growing wave of protests, singer-songwriter-actress Maris Racal marched alongside members of the Philippines-Palestine Friendship Association, bearing a placard that reads “No to dynasty of thieves.” Meanwhile, singer Kakie Pangilinan, together with her father, Senator Kiko Pangilinan, is wearing a shirt that says “No Mercy for the Greedy.”
These personalities and celebrities were not treated as VIPs that afternoon. They were one with the warm bodies who trooped to the streets that day for a unity march against corruption. They were the ones who also sweated under the same sun, carrying placards or even blasting onto megaphones while chanting “Ang tao, ang bayan; ngayon ay lumalaban!” and “Marcos singilin; Duterte panagutin!”
Every chant that rose from the crowd carried a mix of anger and exhaustion, but also hope. Hope that even beauty queens, artists, and other personalities are willing to stand in solidarity among millions of ordinary and marginalized Filipino people in amplifying voices and sharing a collective struggle to break the cycle of impunity under the Marcos-Duterte administration.
