Protest season’s back
The demonstration, led by church groups, carried three core calls: an end to corruption, a genuine anti-political dynasty law, and electoral reform.
Daily TribuneThe demonstration, led by church groups, carried three core calls: an end to corruption, a genuine anti-political dynasty law, and electoral reform.
The streets are starting to fill up again. The mass action season is back with characteristic force and, as always in domestic politics, the fuel is the brazen robbery of the people’s money that the crooks turn around and shield themselves with.
On Sunday, 28 June, hundreds of protesters converged on the EDSA People Power Monument for the White Ribbon March, demanding accountability from the Marcos administration and the conviction of Vice President Sara Duterte.
The demonstration, led by church groups, carried three core calls: an end to corruption, a genuine anti-political dynasty law and electoral reform. It was a continuation of the Trillion Peso March last year and early this year that stemmed from the flood control scandal — that bottomless pit of stolen infrastructure funds that had swallowed up legislators, contractors and reputations.
But it was the Iglesia ni Cristo flash mob that swelled into the thousands in the same area yesterday, Tuesday, that caught the public’s attention as they protested transactional politics that has poisoned the accountability debate.
In January 2025, the INC drew what police estimated at 1.5 million people to the Quirino Grandstand and nearby areas for what it called a National Rally for Peace, which triggered a rare shuffling of the Marcos Cabinet.
Now the INC is back, this time rallying for true accountability and questions on the targeting of Senator Rodante Marcoleta, who, Ombudsman Boying Remulla said the day before, was facing a corruption case that was up for resolution and will be filed soon.
What he was talking about was the likely filing of a non-bailable plunder case by the Ombudsman over the P75-million campaign donation Marcoleta allegedly received and failed to declare in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).
On the same day, it was announced that former Department of Public Works and Highways secretary Manny Bonoan was being groomed as a state witness.
An INC spokesperson captured the absurd twist: “What we find puzzling is why the very person who has been pushing to expose those allegedly involved in this massive theft from the Filipino people is now the one being charged and imprisoned, instead of those he exposed.”
The church called it what it is — selective justice.
Marcoleta himself called the complaint “a warning shot fired at those who refuse to kneel,” linking its timing directly to his active role in the Senate’s flood control investigation and the looming trial of VP Duterte.
A central question raised during the protest was why the Commission on Elections reviewed the same P75-million transaction and concluded that it did not constitute an election offense.
The contrast with the government’s handling of the broader flood control scandal is striking. Back in April 2026, officials said plunder charges against former Senate President Chiz Escudero would be ready by May. May came and went, but no case was filed.
The case against Sen. Joel Villanueva was likewise described as “ripe for filing,” only to be repeatedly deferred on the promise of further refinement “in the coming weeks.”
The protest season has returned, and the public anger driving it is unlikely to subside until everyone found responsible is held accountable, regardless of political affiliation or patronage.
Whether those in power will heed that demand is another matter.