Daily TribunePride celebrations across the Philippines reached record numbers in 2026, with more than 320,000 people joining events in Quezon City and an estimated 561,000 participating nationwide — an unprecedented show of visibility, solidarity and support for the LGBTIQ+ community.
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HUNDRES of thousands trooped to LoveLab4n: Pride PH Festival 2026 in UP Diliman.
PHOTOGRAPHS by Roel Hoang Manipon for daily tribune
MANY celebrities such as Awra Briguela joined the march.
More than 320,000 people attended LoveLab4n: Pride PH Festival 2026 on 27 June at the University of the Philippines Diliman in Quezon City and its parallel events — the Maginhawa Pride Village in District 4 and LoveLaban sa Araneta in Cubao — according to the Quezon City government. The turnout surpassed the estimated 250,000 to 300,000 attendees recorded in 2025, making it the largest Pride celebration in the Philippines and the second-largest, single-location Pride event in Asia, after Bangkok Pride 2026 in Thailand, which drew more than 500,000 people on 31 May.
Across the Quezon City venues and affiliated Pride celebrations nationwide, combined attendance was estimated at about 561,000, according to Pride PH, a coalition of LGBTIQ+ organizations and one of the organizers of LoveLaban.
The affiliated events were held on the same day in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan; Isabela; Baguio City; Pampanga; Hagonoy, Bulacan; Manila; Pasig City; La Union; Parañaque City; Los Baños and San Pablo City in Laguna; Batangas; Mindoro Island; Romblon; Catarman, Northern Samar; Aklan; Iloilo City; Bacolod City, Negros Occidental; Cebu City; Bohol; Zamboanga City; Misamis Oriental; Maguindanao; and Sultan Kudarat.
In recent years, Pride gatherings in the Philippines have repeatedly set new attendance records. The first Pride PH event, Love Laban: Pride PH Festival, drew about 110,000 people to the Quezon City Memorial Circle on 24 June 2023. The festival returned to the same venue on 22 June 2024 and attracted approximately 200,000 attendees.
Before the establishment of the Pride PH Festival, the Metro Manila Pride March — launched in 1996 and regarded as Asia’s longest-running Pride event — had already posted record-breaking turnouts. Its 30 June 2018 march in Marikina City drew about 25,000 people, then the largest Pride gathering in the country. The following year, some 70,000 attended the 29 June march, also in Marikina, making it the largest Pride event in Southeast Asia at the time.
These figures represented dramatic increases from previous years: 1,500 attendees on 8 December 2012 in Makati City; 1,000 on 7 December 2013 at Remedios Circle in Malate, Manila; 1,000 on 6 December 2014, also in Malate; 2,000 on 27 June 2015 at Rizal Park in Manila; 5,000 on 25 June 2016, also at Rizal Park in Manila; and 8,000 on 24 June 2017 in Marikina City.
The 2020 march was cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, while health protocols remained in place, Metro Manila Pride held a small in-person gathering at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City on 26 June, accompanied by a virtual program streamed on social media. The Metro Manila Pride March and Festival returned on 25 June 2022 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Open Grounds in Pasay City, followed by the 24 June 2023 edition at the Circuit Event Grounds in Makati City. After a two-year hiatus in 2024 and 2025, it returned to its original venue at Remedios Circle in 2026.
The steadily rising attendance reflects the growing visibility of LGBTIQ+ Filipinos, greater self-acceptance within the community and increasing awareness of their rights. It may also signal broader public acceptance. Yet these record crowds stand in sharp contrast to the continuing lack of comprehensive national policies that protect LGBTIQ+ people and uphold their human rights.
