MILITANT groups and civic society organizations have assured the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) that their rally on Sept. 21 to protest massive corruption in the government will be peaceful.
Acting QCPD director Col. Randy Glenn Silvio said on Thursday the police and the city government, represented by officials from the local Department of Public Order and Safety (DPOS) and City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with protesting groups including those from the church and academe.
Silvio hosted a preparatory meeting at the QCPD headquarters in Camp Karingal to work out the orderly and peaceful conduct of the rally set at the People Power Monument on EDSA.
Silvio said salient provisions of Batas Pambansa 880, or the Public Assembly Act of 1985, were discussed at the meeting, emphasizing the principles of maximum tolerance, public safety and effective traffic management.
DPOS chief Elmo San Diego said the city government has laid down conditions for the rally, including designated areas for the assembly and traffic rerouting schemes to minimize disruption to motorists.
A walkthrough of the venue will be conducted on Sept. 19, the officials said.
The rally organizers who signed the MOU included the Church Leaders Council for National Transformation, Nagkaisang Siklab, Tindig and Anim Bikers for Good Governance.
The Liberal Party (LP) of the Philippines on Thursday called on the nation to join the march on Sunday protesting against corruption.
In a statement on their Facebook page written entirely in Filipino, LP President Erin Tañada said those who “plundered and squandered the people’s money should not be able to sleep soundly at night.”
“This has been the situation for several weeks now: they are being exposed on social media — mocked, ridiculed, shamed. Their homes and offices are being pelted with mud and rotten fruit. In the Senate and the House of Representatives, some of them are being bombarded with questions and accusations,” Tañada said.
“Some confessed. Revelations emerged. People pointed fingers. Others cracked under pressure, but that is not enough. There are still things being hidden. Some also have the audacity to claim they are the victims. Yet, they still don’t understand the people’s anger,” he said.
“Let us march as one nation. Let us speak in unison so that those in power can hear the voice of the people. Power does not belong to them — it has always belonged to us,” Tañada said.
Tindig Pilipinas’ Kiko Aquino-Dee said the “Trillion Peso March is not just a protest — it is a moral call. On Sept. 21, we show that the people will not be silenced by corruption and abuse. Together, we march in peace, but with firm conviction, to demand a government worthy of our trust.”
“Sept. 21 will be a day to show that when the people stand together — peacefully but resolutely — no abuse of power can outlast the strength of a nation determined to reclaim integrity in governance,” he said.
In a statement on Thursday, the August Twenty One Movement (ATOM), known for its involvement in the 1986 People Power Revolution, looked back at the declaration of martial law in 1972 and the assassination of then-opposition leader Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. on Aug. 21, 1983.
“There was no lack of resistance from true heroic Filipinos in the next decade. Trying with all their might to bring down the dictatorship. But it will take the martyrdom and death of the number one person on the list of those arrested during martial law, to finally push the majority of our people and the big bulk of the middle class to go out to the streets in 1983, twelve years later, after Ninoy [Aquino] first thought that Filipinos will go out once martial law was declared,” ATOM said.
“Now that our country is 53 years behind that dark period in our history, we seem to have run full circle. The son of the dictator is in power. And his one-time ally in the so-called dynastic UniTeam is now a political enemy, the Vice President, who is facing an impeachment complaint based on corruption charges also. But one big difference is, we all have a chance to write a different story now than the one that was written by the baby boomers in the 70s,” the group added.
ATOM President Volt Bohol said more than the use of social media, peaceful mobilization is important.
“If we really want accountability to happen. Active nonviolent participation and social media, so they will really listen to us. Both are a prerequisite combo. Active-nonviolent because that is the Filipino way in the last 40 years, and this is how the rest of the world has come to know us,” Bohol said.
The Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) on Wednesday called on the faithful to join the protests on Sunday.
“During the past few weeks, we Filipinos have been painfully witnessing the Senate and House hearings on the flood control projects how deeply corruption has taken hold in our government,” the group wrote in a public statement posted on its Facebook page on Wednesday.
“Because God hates wickedness and corruption, let us uphold righteousness and demand accountability from our nation’s leaders. Let us cry out to God for justice so that those involved will be made to answer for their wrongdoings,” it said.
PCEC National Director Bishop Noel Pantoja called on Christians to unite to end corruption in the country.
“I am therefore making this call to my fellow Evangelical Christians, and to everyone who loves righteousness and justice: Let us unite to end the corruption in our beloved nation!” Pantoja said.
Aside from the People Power Monument, a rally will be held at the Rizal Park in Manila on Sunday, Sept. 21, which coincides with the 53rd anniversary of the declaration of martial law by then-president Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
