Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in the Philippines against alleged corruption in government flood-control projects, gathering at Manila’s Rizal Park and the EDSA People Power Monument as public anger grew over claims that officials and contractors profited from ineffective or nonexistent infrastructure.
The Associated Press reported that more than 33,000 protesters took part in the peaceful rallies. Students, religious figures and other participants began arriving at Luneta, another name for Rizal Park, hours before the event known as “Baha sa Luneta,” according to The Manila Times.
The main gatherings were separate from violence that unfolded near Malacañang, the presidential palace. About 100 people carrying clubs and other objects blocked roads and bridges, threw rocks, bottles and fire bombs at officers, and damaged property, police and witnesses said. Whether those involved had previously attended the peaceful demonstrations was not immediately clear.
Police arrested 49 people suspected of taking part in the violence. Manila police said about 70 law-enforcement officers were wounded during the hours-long clashes. Officers used tear gas as the group toppled steel posts, broke glass, sprayed graffiti and ransacked the lobby of a budget hotel before dispersing at night.
Schools were cancelled because of the disorder. Police later said the situation had been contained and warned that attacks and vandalism would not be tolerated. It was not known from the supplied reporting whether President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was inside the palace during the clashes.
Anger over public works
The protests centred on alleged wrongdoing connected to flood-control spending in a country regularly struck by storms and typhoons. Demonstrators accused lawmakers, government officials and construction-company owners of taking large kickbacks from projects meant to protect vulnerable communities.
Marcos had raised the issue in his July state-of-the-nation address. He later created an independent commission to investigate suspected anomalies among 9,855 flood-control projects valued at more than 545 billion pesos, or about $9.5 billion, dated to the period beginning when his administration entered office in mid-2022. Marcos described the suspected wrongdoing as horrible and accepted his public works secretary’s resignation.
A student activist from flood-prone Bulacan province told the AP that residents were losing homes and futures while others amassed wealth from public money. Authorities said Bulacan had the greatest number of flood-control projects under examination as potentially substandard or nonexistent.
Public outrage intensified after a wealthy couple whose construction companies obtained project contracts displayed a collection of European and American luxury cars in media interviews. One vehicle cost 42 million pesos, about $737,000 at the reported exchange rate.
The evidence supplied for this report contains allegations and descriptions of projects under investigation; it does not establish criminal guilt for individual lawmakers, officials or contractors. The independent commission’s work was ongoing on the event date.
Peaceful organizers stress accountability
Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, urged people to demonstrate peacefully and seek accountability. He said the purpose of the protests was to strengthen democracy rather than destabilize the country.
That distinction mattered after the clashes near the palace. The large rallies at Rizal Park and the People Power Monument were described as peaceful, while officials had not identified the smaller group involved in the violence or established whether it was connected to the organized demonstrations.
The September 21 mobilization brought together widespread concern over infrastructure, flooding and the use of public funds. It also produced two sharply different scenes in the capital: mass civic gatherings calling for answers, and a confrontation near the seat of government that ended with injured officers, arrests and property damage.
