By Diego Morra
When hundreds of people marched on September 21, 2025 to denounce the plunder of people’s money in thousands of ghost flood control projects (FCPs), both the Marcos and Duterte factions sought to ride on the protests to push their own sinister covert operations and snatch credit for the successful mass actions at the Luneta and at EDSA.
For one, Malacanang continues to bask that had not President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. denounced the ghost FCPs and slammed the control of major projects by 15 contractors favored by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and lawmakers who inserted the same projects on the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA) signed by Marcos Jr. himself, the clamor for an end to bogus FCPs would not have materialized.
On the other hand, the cult led by the unlamented, detained ex-president Rodrigo Duterte also moved, with the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DIC) Secretary Henry Aguda tagging the “black mask” marchers as having been organized by Anonymous PH. Garbed with the standard black shirts similar to those worn by the Antifa in the US, they differed by carrying the skull and crossbones flags of buccaneers.
Manila Mayor Isko Moreno also chimed in, claiming that initial reports that he received, perhaps from his spooks, spoke of a Filipino-Chinese businessman and a lawyer funding the blackshirts but would not say who the businessman was, whether he operates a bakery or is inexplicably operating on behalf of the Chinese Embassy. If this were true, the government might as well lodge another diplomatic protest to the potentates of Beijing. The protest against bogus FCPs is an internal affair unless some enterprising Chinese citizens also have equity in the corporations of well-heeled Filipino contractors.
Curiously, a footage of some blackshirts showing off cash has made the rounds. Nothing has been said about the role of the Dutertes in the violence that ensued after militant organizations ended their protest at Mendiola and proceeded to EDSA, with Bayan leader Renato Reyes getting an ugly wound on his face from a stone hurled by a blackshirt. They can be distinguished easily as they chanted different slogans and called for Marcos Jr. to resign, a standard slogan of Sara Duterte zealots since 2023, which abundantly showed that far from being left out, they can still organize and mobilize people, meaning the poor Dutertes can still afford to finance mass actions that Marcos intelligence warned could destabilize the administration. The much-hyped putsch did not materialize and their queen never sat on the throne.
Not pacified by rally organizers, the newly-minted Duterte activists pelted anti-riot policemen at Mendiola, clashing with them and managing to maul several law enforcers. At the Ayala Bridge, the same group torched the tires of a container van, prompting clashes with law enforcers beefed up by Philippine National Police (PNP) units from Central Luzon. Gunshots allegedly coming from a nearby motel led to the attack on the establishment. The hours-long clashes and dispersal at Mendiola, Recto, Ayala Bridge and other places led to the arrest and detention of more than 130 youths while others placed the total number of apprehensions at 200.
The Luneta rally in the morning was attended by more than 100,000 people who later proceeded to Mendiola to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of the declaration of martial law by Marcos Sr. In the afternoon, the rally at EDSA also attracted a crowd estimated at around 100,000. Not bad for a rainy day and certainly a good sign that Filipino are rising from their slumber and denouncing a system that celebrities described as “bulok na sistema.” The outpouring of support for both protest rallies show that the aroused citizenry would no longer be spectators as the Marcos and Duterte factions struggle to wrest political power. Both factions made graft the hallmark of their regimes. This is a case of the pot calling the kettle black and the correct solution is to hold both of them liable for the plunder of people’s money.
The Filipino people are asking that the graft-ridden system be overhauled, those responsible for the plunder of tax money for ghost FCPs be charged and tried, and the ringleaders of the scam at the DPWH, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Commission on Audit (COA) as well as the lawmakers who profited from fiscal impunity be charged criminally and locked up in jail. To ensure that government would not paper over the mess and that the Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI) would pursue its investigation without fear or favor, protests should not stop.
