In the Philippines and across the world, Filipinos have demanded accountability and justice in response to the recent exposure of naked corruption within the Philippine government. While the Marcos government has sought to identify scapegoats and distance itself from the corruption, members of the Marcos clan are increasingly implicated alongside other dynastic families in the Philippine government as more information is exposed about the scandal.
The Marcos Jr regime has also responded with violent crackdown on protests. By September 23rd, police officers had arrested over 200 protestors in Manila after over 100,000 Manileños marched against the corrupt flood control projects. Police shot and killed a bystander who was returning from work.
The corruption behind the flood control projects, and the fascist response of the government, have captured international attention and agitation – but they are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the broader problems facing the Filipino people.
On October 14, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) held a webinar about the anti-corruption protests, and the connections between this issue and the broader plunder and extraction from the Philippines by local and foreign elites – plunder that acutely affects the peasant farmers of the Philippine countryside. Our webinar featured speakers Maria Sol Taule, Teddy Casino, Ariel Casilao, and Peter Murphy.
