The Rally is Over. Now What?

As the last placards from yesterday’s “Trillion Peso March” are cleared from Luneta and EDSA and other areas like Iloilo City, the debate has already begun. Critics point to the official crowd estimate of around 80,000 and ask: against a staggering PHP1.9 trillion allegedly plundered from flood control funds, is that all we can muster?

This question, while understandable, misses the point entirely. The success of the September 21st protest was never going to be about the headcount. Judging it on numbers is a trap. The protest was not the final battle; it was the firing of a starting gun.

The real test of this movement is what happens now that the chants have faded. The public anger—sparked by the Discaya couple’s exposé of a kickback scheme involving at least 17 lawmakers and supercharged by Mayor Vico Sotto’s sharp critique of a fawning media—has opened a critical window of opportunity. But outrage is a perishable resource. It must be converted into a long-term strategy for systemic change.

We must now go beyond the placards.

Rallies capture headlines, but they don’t build institutions. The recent ousting of Senate President Escudero and the resignation of House Speaker Romualdez were political adjustments, not reforms. They are tactical moves designed to release public pressure while keeping the machinery of corruption intact. Real change won’t come from shuffling the same deck of dynastic players. It will come from replacing them.

The hard, unglamorous work begins now, not in the streets, but in our own legislative districts. The call to action is clear and direct:

First, identify potential leaders from our own communities—teachers, farmers, small business owners, and local organizers who possess integrity and a genuine desire for public service, not personal enrichment and other motives.

Second, build a strong and sustained constituency around them. This means organizing regular community assemblies, fostering political education, and creating a grassroots network that can stand against the money and machinery of entrenched political families.

Finally, prepare them to challenge and replace the dynastic incumbents in the 2028 elections.

This is the revolt that must be nurtured. It is a patient, methodical, and disciplined campaign to reclaim our democracy, one district at a time. The Ombudsman’s special panel of prosecutors must continue its work to freeze assets and jail the plunderers, but their legal battle must be paired with our political one.

Yesterday’s march was not a failure of attendance. It was a summons. It proved that a core of engaged citizens is awake and unwilling to accept theft as normal. The true victory won’t be a photograph of a million people on a highway. It will be a new Congress in 2028, filled with faces that truly represent the people they serve. The rally is over. It’s time for the real revolt to begin.