Ilonggos set Sept. 18, 21 rallies vs. corruption

By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

Ilonggos are expected to hold two protest actions on Sept. 18 and 21 to demand government accountability over alleged corruption in infrastructure projects and other national issues.

A multi-sectoral and transport coalition will lead the Sept. 18 rally along the premises of the unfinished Aganan Flyover in Pavia, Iloilo.

Construction of the Aganan Flyover began in 2020 and was originally scheduled for completion in 2022, but remains unfinished as of 2025.

No to PUV Phaseout Coalition Panay lead convenor Elmer Forro told Super Radyo Iloilo that the rally will coincide with a three-day nationwide transport strike organized by groups MANIBELA and PISTON.

Forro added that their group will also participate in the Sept. 21 rally, which will begin with a march from Jaro Cathedral to the Iloilo Provincial Capitol grounds, where a concert will run until 10 p.m.

The Sept. 21 protest will be led by members of the clergy, civil society groups, laborers, and political coalitions to mark the 53rd anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., father of the current president.

Organizers said the protest will also tackle pressing issues in education, labor, and food security.

Msgr. Meliton Oso, director of the Jaro Archdiocese Social Action Center, told Aksyon Radyo Iloilo that despite repeated calls to punish those involved in alleged flood control scams, “lessons haven’t been learned.”

“There have been many attempts to jail [those involved in] corruption, but it is as if we haven’t learned our lessons,” Oso said.

“Now, they have been able to covet almost PHP 1 trillion through these anomalous flood control projects,” he added.

Oso cited data claiming that 50.2 percent of Senior High School graduates in Western Visayas are unable to proceed to college due to financial constraints.

“If the almost PHP 1 trillion could be converted into education, food, or livelihoods, we could’ve pulled up many Filipinos and given them better lives,” he said.

He expressed hope that the rallies would echo the peaceful spirit of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution.

“Then, we were against the dictator [Marcos Sr.], and now, we are against [continuing] corruption—the greed, the gluttony of some public officials and private individuals who connived to steal up to PHP 1 trillion from us,” Oso said.