12/06/2026
A nation sold, a city commodified
Tongtongan on the 128th Philippine Independence Day
The state’s grand Independence Day parades cannot hide the reality of our systemic bo***ge. There is no genuine independence as long as imperialist and corporate plunder dictates our lives, and foreign powers treat our sovereignty as expendable.
Today, we are caught in a perilous geopolitical tug-of-war. At the same time that we condemn China’s encroachments into Philippine territory, we also condemn the Marcos Jr. government for its treasonous foreign policy and its subservience in equating the US geopolitical agenda with our national interest. Over the past four years, the Marcos administration has colluded with the US, expanding military bases and allowing our land and waters to be used as staging grounds for acts of aggression. We urgently demand the dismantling of US bases and missile systems, and the rejection of the Pax Silica, which threatens to turn Luzon into a weapons hub and a war playground for testing weapons of mass destruction.
This national subservience to foreign interests mirrors the state's betrayal of its own people at the local level. We live this reality every day in Baguio City. Skyrocketing inflation, poverty wages, and state-backed harassment are the umili’s daily battles. Under the guise of “development” and “modernization,” corporations are aggressively commodifying our city, displacing the very people who make it whole.
But we are fighting back. Earlier this year, we stopped the P4.5-billion corporate takeover of the Baguio City Public Market. We must hold the line to demand development that uplifts local merchants—not corporate giants—and defeat the anti-poor jeepney phaseout that robs drivers of their survival. We must also fight for our dying environment, as our forest cover plunges below the critical 30% threshold and water shortages worsen. Instead of building local sustainability, the state chooses concrete over nature, slashing roads through the Buyog Watershed and wasting P200 million to export our trash.
When we organize and speak these truths, the state vilifies us and weaponizes the law against rights defenders, unionists, and progressive leaders. But they will not silence us.
No state grants true independence; the people assert it. This Independence Day, the urgent call remains: from fighting for an independent foreign policy to defending our rights, the umili—vendors, drivers, students, workers, teachers, and Indigenous Peoples—must unite, persist, and advance. We demand our right to a decent livelihood, a healthy environment, and genuine freedom from state terror and foreign dictates.
Tunay na kalayaan, ipaglaban!
Imperyalismo, ibagsak!
