Eat the rich

By Noel Galon de Leon

The phrase “Eat the Rich” has survived across centuries because it points to a truth that societies keep refusing to face. The French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau once warned that when the poor have nothing left to eat, they will eat the rich. These words were not written as a celebration of violence but as a grim reminder that when inequality becomes unbearable and the people are stripped of dignity, they will eventually rise. Today in the Philippines this warning feels more urgent than ever. We live in a country where scandal after scandal unfolds like clockwork. Trillions of pesos are allocated in the national budget yet communities continue to sink deeper into poverty. Public schools lack chairs, chalk, and safe classrooms while political families live in luxury behind the high walls of their gated subdivisions. Hospitals cannot afford basic equipment while certain government offices defend billions in confidential and intelligence funds. Rice farmers struggle to afford the very rice they plant while the price of basic goods rises almost weekly. At the same time, those who have enriched themselves through corruption hold grand parties, travel abroad, and educate their children in foreign universities as if the suffering of the people were nothing more than background noise.

This reality is why the 𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗣𝗘𝗦𝗢 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗛 on September 21 matters. This is not simply another protest. It is an indictment of a system that has failed us repeatedly. September 21 is already etched into our collective memory as the anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law, the beginning of one of the darkest chapters in Philippine history when the Marcos dictatorship looted billions of dollars from the treasury while ordinary people lined up for rice and dissenters were jailed, tortured, or killed. Today history threatens to repeat itself as we watch another Marcos sit in power while familiar patterns of plunder and abuse unfold. The march is not just about the budget or corruption. It is about refusing to accept that the sacrifices of the past were in vain.

“Eat the Rich” in the Philippine context is not about envy of wealth or blind rage. It is a demand for justice. It is a recognition that in a society where one percent live in opulence while millions survive on a hundred pesos a day, inequality is not an accident but a design. It is about exposing how dynasties enrich themselves by monopolizing power while communities are told to endure. It is about questioning why the poorest Filipinos are taxed on every purchase while the wealthiest hide their fortunes through loopholes and exemptions. It is about asking why billions in development loans and disaster funds vanish into private pockets while climate disasters devastate the poor and the government responds with nothing but empty statements.

The victims of this system are not faceless. They are the jeepney drivers who face extinction under modernization schemes crafted without consultation. They are the nurses and teachers who leave the country because their salaries cannot feed their families. They are the fisherfolk who risk their lives against foreign incursions in the West Philippine Sea only to be ignored by officials sworn to defend them. They are the youth who study by candlelight or who drop out entirely because even transportation costs have become unbearable. To speak of inequality is to speak of them, and to remember that behind every peso stolen is a life diminished.

To eat the rich today must mean dismantling the structures that allow the rich to feast while the poor starve. It must mean strengthening anti-corruption laws and making sure they apply to all, not just the powerless. It must mean taxing wealth and property fairly and ensuring that government budgets are spent transparently. It must mean empowering communities to hold leaders accountable and breaking the grip of dynasties that have treated public office as a family inheritance. It must mean reimagining development not as endless debt and mega-projects that benefit contractors, but as investments in schools, hospitals, and livelihoods.

September 21 is not only a day of remembrance but also a day of confrontation. It is a call to prayer and reflection, but also to collective action. It reminds us that the Philippines has toppled dictators before and that people’s power is not an artifact of history but a living force that can rise again. The Trillion Peso March is an opportunity to say we will not be silent, we will not allow plunder to continue, we will not let our children inherit a country stripped bare.

The world around us is shifting. Across nations we see governments fall when corruption and inequality become unbearable. We see climate disasters deepen the divide between rich and poor. We see wars and conflicts expose the greed of those who profit while others suffer. In Southeast Asia both the Philippines and Indonesia carry the scars of colonialism and dictatorship, and both continue to struggle against oligarchies and corruption that feel impossible to uproot. Yet history shows that when the people rise together, change becomes possible.

The danger is when we treat the phrase “Eat the Rich” as nothing more than a meme to share on social media. It is far more than that. It is a call to recognize that we are approaching a breaking point. Hunger cannot be pacified with slogans, and rage cannot be contained forever by intimidation. When the institutions of democracy are hollowed out, when corruption is normalized, when dynasties silence dissent, the stage is set for upheaval. Rousseau’s warning is not a metaphor anymore. It is a reality waiting to unfold.

As young people scroll through newsfeeds filled with corruption scandals and soaring prices, many are asking what kind of future they are being offered. As workers toil abroad just to keep families alive back home, they wonder why their sacrifices continue to subsidize the lavish lifestyles of the powerful. As communities gather on September 21, they are not merely remembering the past, they are declaring that enough is enough.

“Eat the Rich” shocks us because it should. It forces us to confront a society where power is hoarded and suffering is ignored. To take it seriously today is not to call for violence but to demand transformation. It is a call for dignity, fairness, and accountability. It is a demand that wealth must serve the people, not enslave them.

If we do not confront corruption and inequality with courage, history will confront us with consequences. September 21 is our chance to listen, to act, and to prove that we have learned from the mistakes of the past. If we ignore it, Rousseau’s warning will become prophecy. When the poor have nothing left to eat, they will eat the rich.