Malacañang sealed itself off "citing standard security protocols" on September 21, the 54th anniversary of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.'s martial law declaration, as thousands of Filipinos marched in Manila and elsewhere to demand accountability over the flood-control corruption scandal — even though, according to the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), not a single group had formally applied for a protest permit in the capital. More than 17,000 police personnel, higher than the 15,000 initially announced, were deployed across Metro Manila, according to Philstar.com reporter Ian Laqui.
NCRPO spokesperson Maj. Hazel Asilo confirmed the permit situation in a message to reporters on Monday. Under the arrangement, groups wishing to demonstrate were largely confined to designated freedom parks unless they secured permits — which none did, even as protest organizers went ahead anyway. The Kilusang Bayan Kontra Kurakot held an anti-corruption program at 3 p.m. at Liwasang Bonifacio. Manila suspended face-to-face classes in anticipation of the crowds, and police erected road barricades throughout the city, Laqui reported.
Despite — or because of — the security posture, turnout was substantial. According to Arab News reporter Ellie Aben, thousands of demonstrators joined rallies organized by the People's Movement Against Corruption, the artists' and cultural workers' alliance SAKA, and labor, youth and church groups. "Our primary goal is really to highlight that the Filipino people's fight against flooding, corruption, poverty and lack of accountability is continuing," People's Movement Against Corruption convenor David San Juan told Arab News. The anger traces directly to the flood-control kickback scandal centered on a ₱107.4-billion 2027 flood-control allocation that lawmakers themselves have already flagged as reduced from prior years amid the graft fallout — the same scandal that has produced a former House Speaker's arrest, plunder charges against two sitting senators' family, and dozens of cases now moving through the Sandiganbayan and Ombudsman.
A newer grievance surfaced alongside the familiar one. SAKA spokesperson JL Dalope raised concerns about Pax Silica, a US-led artificial intelligence infrastructure initiative the Philippines joined in April 2026. According to Aben's reporting, the project includes a roughly 4,000-acre "Economic Security Zone" in Tarlac that overlaps Indigenous ancestral lands, prompting protester concerns about farmer displacement. "The issue of Pax Silica is very significant, especially when it comes to AI and data centers," Dalope said.
The commemorations began a day early: groups held marches on September 20 at the Supreme Court and the EDSA Shrine, according to Laqui's reporting. Malacañang, for its part, offered no public accounting of what "standard security protocols" required a presidential palace to close its own gates against citizens marking a date that exists, in the national memory, precisely because a president once treated dissent as a threat to be locked out rather than a message to be answered.
Context
The martial law anniversary has doubled, for a second consecutive year, as an occasion for anti-corruption protest rather than a purely historical commemoration. Pulpulitiko has previously reported that the Ombudsman has filed 35 flood-control corruption cases in the courts with 166 more under investigation, that former House Speaker Martin Romualdez has pleaded not guilty to a ₱7.44-billion plunder charge, and that Sens. Mark and Camille Villar face graft charges over PrimeWater's water-district dealings. Monday's protests suggest that public anger over the scandal has not cooled even as individual cases wind through the courts — and that a new front, over AI infrastructure and land rights in Tarlac, is emerging alongside it.
Sources
- "PNP: No group applied for permit to protest on Martial Law anniversary" — Philstar.com, Ian Laqui
- "Filipinos mark martial law anniversary protesting corruption, Pax Silica" — Arab News, Ellie Aben