Philippines Youth Anti-Corruption Protest Returns to Manila

On Sunday morning, about a thousand students and youth activists walked out of De La Salle Greenhills and headed for the EDSA Shrine. Their banner carried the thesis of this Philippines youth anti-corruption protest in Tagalog: "Never Forget: Hindi Mababaha ang Katotohanan." The truth will not be flooded.

The two days of mobilization, on September 20 and 21, marked a year since the Trillion Peso March of 2025, the protest wave that followed revelations of "ghost" and substandard flood control projects across the Philippines. According to BusinessWorld, civil society, religious, youth, and labor groups returned to the streets this time around, again coinciding with the anniversary of the declaration of martial law.

The youth groups leading the charge

The youth marches were organized by Akbayan Youth, the Student Council Alliance of the Philippines, and Youth Against Kurakot (YAK), together with student leaders from several schools, and converged at the EDSA Shrine before joining other civic groups holding their own commemorative activities.

Khylla Meneses, the national chairperson of Akbayan Youth and lead convenor of YAK, said the cases filed so far were only a starting point. "Arrests and the filing of cases are not enough," Meneses said in a statement. "We must see this fight through, hold all corrupt officials accountable, recover every peso stolen from the people and dismantle the system that enriches a few while making life harder for the majority."

Turnout itself was the test. Anthony Lawrence A. Borja, an associate professor of political science at De La Salle University, told BusinessWorld that a big showing would prove public fury was still a threat to the administration's legitimacy, while a weak one would suggest discontent had settled into "powerless silence."

Monday's main rally gathered at Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila, led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and joined by Kilusang Bayan Kontra Kurakot and other groups. The city disaster office put the crowd at about 5,800 by Monday afternoon, with no untoward incidents reported, according to BusinessWorld's coverage of the day. The rally was expected to end at the Mendiola Peace Arch near Malacañan Palace, but police barricades and barbed wire kept protesters from moving farther toward the Palace. More than 17,000 police officers were deployed across the day's activities.

What the protesters are demanding

The demands at this Philippines youth anti-corruption protest went well past flood control. The youth groups pushed for the arrest of Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, who is wanted under an International Criminal Court warrant. The ICC unsealed the warrant on May 11 after issuing it under seal in November 2025; the court alleges dela Rosa bears criminal responsibility as an indirect co-perpetrator for the crime against humanity of murder involving at least 32 people between July 2016 and April 2018. He remains at large.

They also sought accountability from fugitive former congressman Elizaldy "Zaldy" Co, who resigned amid allegations linking him to kickbacks from flood control projects. In a video released in November 2025, Co alleged that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez ordered budget insertions during the bicameral conference for the 2025 national budget. Malacañang has rejected his allegations.

Romualdez is now facing trial. The former House Speaker, the president's cousin, resigned last year amid investigations into flood control irregularities. He pleaded not guilty on September 16 to a P7.4-billion plunder charge before the Sandiganbayan and remains detained at the New Quezon City Jail in Payatas.

The protesters further pressed for a full investigation into Senator Alan Peter Cayetano over allegations involving anomalous and ghost projects in Taguig City, called for the conviction of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio in her impeachment trial, and demanded the immediate passage of an anti-political dynasty law. Congress has owed that law for 39 years, and in August the Supreme Court ruled that enacting it is a mandatory constitutional duty, finding that lawmakers' decades of failure had violated the constitution.

Meneses rejected any effort to narrow the movement's focus. "While we hold everyone involved in the flood control corruption scandal accountable, we continue to hold the Marcos family accountable for their wrongdoing," she said. "We will not allow them to turn our call for accountability into their political deodorizer, or use it to legitimize their stolen wealth."

A movement that keeps coming back

The September 2025 demonstrations at Rizal Park and the EDSA People Power Monument were followed by more protests in November 2025 and February 2026, and the organizers see the current marches as one stretch of a long campaign. Youth-led street action keeps winning attention elsewhere too, from the UST students facing charges over a protest exhibit to the 200-school walkout staged in Colorado. Voltaire Bohol, president of the August Twenty-One Movement, told BusinessWorld: "Our calls remain the same. Jail all the corrupt. This is going to be a long fight."

Their skepticism has a reference point. A Supreme Court decision made public on September 9 overturned the Sandiganbayan's 2018 conviction of former First Lady Imelda Marcos on seven counts of graft involving Swiss foundations, with the court ruling that prosecutors had failed to prove her guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Bohol said the case of Romualdez could end the same way if the public loses interest: people stop watching, and the powerful walk.

Malacañang has urged participants to keep the demonstrations peaceful and orderly. The students who walked out of Greenhills on Sunday answered with a banner that doubled as a promise: the truth will not be flooded.