‘Today, the Church calls this a moral and spiritual stand. Civil society calls it survival. History calls it overdue.’
THEY have plundered and raped this land far too long, and the people’s rage has reached the tipping point.
From Rizal Park to the People Power Monument — and echoed by rallies in cities like Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, and Davao — Filipinos once again filled the streets yesterday, September 21, not just to mark the dark anniversary of martial law, but to demand an end to a culture of corruption that has outlasted every administration.
This Trillion Peso March is no flash in the pan. It is a cry of moral outrage, a demand that those who bled the nation dry through ghost projects, substandard work, and brazen collusion finally face justice.
The case at hand — the P2 trillion flood-control program — is staggering in its brazenness. For 15 years, contractors, lawmakers, and officials carved up funds meant to protect communities from disaster. The result: half-finished dikes, collapsed riverbanks, submerged barangays.
What must change is not only who gets punished but how corruption itself is fought.
The Filipino people will not forget the names tied to this plunder until they are held to account.
We have seen this playbook before: corruption scandals erupt, hearings are held, then the guilty fade into cushy retirement or receive pardons from political patrons.
The lesson from nations that turned the tide is clear: do the boring, brutal basics. Open every contract. Post every audit online. Enforce strict gift limits. Build courts that move swiftly. Pass strong whistleblower laws. Independent watchdogs must have teeth, not just titles.
Here at home, the reforms we have long demanded remain ignored. Where is the anti-dynasty law that would break political strangleholds? Why does pork barrel, under new names and insertions, still thrive? Why are Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth treated as state secrets instead of public records? Until these gaps are closed, corruption will remain a growth industry.
But this is not just about laws. A culture shift must happen. Corruption must become socially intolerable — a brand of shame that no politician, contractor, or official can escape.
Civic duty means more than voting every three years. It means crowd audits, whistleblowing, reporting through portals, and refusing the small favors that grease larger crimes.
Today, the Church calls this a moral and spiritual stand. Civil society calls it survival. History calls it overdue.
The clamor for change will go on and on until those who raped and plundered this nation are all behind bars, their loot returned to the people, and public service is no longer infected by malice and corruption.
Anything less will betray not only the past but certainly the future.
