25/09/2025
MUST READ ‼️
Statement on the Sept. 21 Baha sa Luneta rally and the violent dispersal of protesters in Mendiola
September 25, 2025
The Baha sa Luneta: Aksyon na Laban sa Korapsyon rally last Sept. 21 is one of the biggest and broad-based rallies in recent memory. At least 100,000 citizens from almost all sectors and age brackets ran, biked, jogged, commuted, walked, marched to Luneta for this historic public gathering. This is not only a public and collective expression of anger at massive corruption exposed by the lavish lifestyles of corrupt contractors in cahoots with corrupt DPWH bureaucrats and corrupt dynasties, but also a commitment to ensuring that this time should be different and should lead to genuine, systemic transformation. “We’ve only just begun” is the sentiment.
We thank all those who attended and supported the rally, as well as those who organized their own protests in and outside the country, including online. We look forward to more and bigger mass actions until our seven-point demands are met.
After the Luneta rally, thousands marched to the historic Mendiola bridge, led by BAYAN and its affiliated organizations. At the end of the program, as participants were starting to disperse, a number of protesters, some wearing ski masks, threw water bottles, rocks and other projectiles at the police barricade.
The violence immediately escalated, with the brutal response of riot police and armed men in civilian clothes who fired water cannons, tear gas and even guns at the protesters.
Most of the youth involved came from urban poor communities that bear the brunt of tokhang (extrajudicial killings), hunger, ceaseless round-ups of alleged criminal suspects, wallowing in poverty, despair, lack of social services and any hope for social mobility. We may not agree but will not pass judgment on their expressions of anger at a system that failed them and many of us, while giving the best life possible to the worst political dynasties, contractors and their minions, and politician-provocateurs.
Such acts cannot compare to the violence of poverty, inequality, injustice and corruption that the poor experience on a daily basis.
We reject narratives depicting those involved as plain troublemakers, criminals, drug addicts or terrorists. The real troublemakers, criminals, and terrorists are the corrupt contractors, bureaucrats, government officials, and minions who defend them. We call for the immediate release of the more than 200 protesters and bystanders, many of them minors, who were arbitrarily arrested. If cases were filed against them and if bail is set, let us help raise the bail for them.
Such incidents notwithstanding, the rallies of Sept. 21 were a resounding success. We stand united more than ever against corruption and for a change in our system of governance.
We urge our countrymen, especially our youth, to get organized and take part in the people’s movement in order to be more effective agents of change.
We shall carry on with the fight for good governance and a more caring, sharing, and compassionate society where our young people will have reason to dream and hope again.
Statement on the Sept. 21 Baha sa Luneta rally and the violent dispersal of protesters in Mendiola
September 25, 2025
The Baha sa Luneta: Aksyon na Laban sa Korapsyon rally last Sept. 21 is one of the biggest and broad-based rallies in recent memory. At least 100,000 citizens from almost all sectors and age brackets ran, biked, jogged, commuted, walked, marched to Luneta for this historic public gathering. This is not only a public and collective expression of anger at massive corruption exposed by the lavish lifestyles of corrupt contractors in cahoots with corrupt DPWH bureaucrats and corrupt dynasties, but also a commitment to ensuring that this time should be different and should lead to genuine, systemic transformation. “We’ve only just begun” is the sentiment.
We thank all those who attended and supported the rally, as well as those who organized their own protests in and outside the country, including online. We look forward to more and bigger mass actions until our seven-point demands are met.
After the Luneta rally, thousands marched to the historic Mendiola bridge, led by BAYAN and its affiliated organizations. At the end of the program, as participants were starting to disperse, a number of protesters, some wearing ski masks, threw water bottles, rocks and other projectiles at the police barricade.
The violence immediately escalated, with the brutal response of riot police and armed men in civilian clothes who fired water cannons, tear gas and even guns at the protesters.
Most of the youth involved came from urban poor communities that bear the brunt of tokhang (extrajudicial killings), hunger, ceaseless round-ups of alleged criminal suspects, wallowing in poverty, despair, lack of social services and any hope for social mobility. We may not agree but will not pass judgment on their expressions of anger at a system that failed them and many of us, while giving the best life possible to the worst political dynasties, contractors and their minions, and politician-provocateurs.
Such acts cannot compare to the violence of poverty, inequality, injustice and corruption that the poor experience on a daily basis.
We reject narratives depicting those involved as plain troublemakers, criminals, drug addicts or terrorists. The real troublemakers, criminals, and terrorists are the corrupt contractors, bureaucrats, government officials, and minions who defend them. We call for the immediate release of the more than 200 protesters and bystanders, many of them minors, who were arbitrarily arrested. If cases were filed against them and if bail is set, let us help raise the bail for them.
Such incidents notwithstanding, the rallies of Sept. 21 were a resounding success. We stand united more than ever against corruption and for a change in our system of governance.
We urge our countrymen, especially our youth, to get organized and take part in the people’s movement in order to be more effective agents of change.
We shall carry on with the fight for good governance and a more caring, sharing, and compassionate society where our young people will have reason to dream and hope again.
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