Anti-Corruption Groups Hold Mass and Rally at EDSA Shrine to Condemn Corruption in Flood Control Projects

Tindig Pilipinas, NAGKAISA! Labor Coalition, Kalipunan ng Kilusang Masa, Simbahan at Komunidad Laban sa Katiwalian, and pro-democracy organizations, held a mass and rally today, September 11, at the historic EDSA Shrine to protest the massive corruption tied to anomalous flood control projects.

Billions of pesos meant to protect Filipinos from the devastating impact of floods had allegedly been lost to ghost projects, kickbacks, and collusion between politicians and contractors. For the coalition, this massive corruption was yet another betrayal of the Filipino people, especially the poor and vulnerable who bore the brunt of floods and climate disasters.

“We cannot stay silent while our money is being stolen, while our people drown in both floods and corruption,” said Kiko Aquino Dee, Convenor of Tindig Pilipinas. 

“Every peso pocketed by these corrupt officials is a classroom not built, a health center left unfinished, and flood protection denied to our communities. That is why we demand: buuin na ang isang independent commission to investigate this massive corruption, and release the SALNs of all public officials involved. Transparency and accountability must begin now,” Dee added. 

Judy Ann Chan Miranda, from NAGKAISA! Labor Coalition, underscored the moral urgency of collective action. “This is not just about corruption, it is about life and death, justice and injustice. The billions stolen from flood control projects could have saved lives and livelihoods. We gather at EDSA Shrine because we believe that, once again, the Filipino people must rise to demand truth, accountability, and reform.”

The coalition emphasized that the EDSA Shrine, a symbol of the people’s power against tyranny and abuse, was the rightful venue for citizens to once again declare: Enough is enough.

“Our call is simple: end corruption, hold the thieves accountable, and return the money to the people. Gawin nating kadiri muli ang kurapsyon,” Dee concluded.

On the Escalating Tensions in BARMM

The Nagkaisa Labor Coalition expresses grave concern over worrisome reports of escalating tensions in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). These tensions erupted following the government’s move to effect a regime change in the region, triggering a breakdown in trust between parties to the peace process.

We mark a historic victory when both the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) signed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB). Yet today, we are alarmed that the MILF has suspended cooperation with its full implementation, including decommissioning. This is a dangerous turn of events that threatens to undo decades of painstaking progress toward peace.

We experienced firsthand that in fratricidal wars, it is workers who fall first. And we understand that real peace is not sealed by wishful thinking—it is secured by the vigilance of government and the continuing participation of the people.

We therefore strongly urge the immediate convening of a joint meeting of the Peace Implementing Panels of the GRP and the MILF to resolve outstanding issues, rebuild confidence, and return the peace process to its rightful track.

We likewise call on Malacañang—particularly Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Anton Lagdameo and OPAPRU Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.—to abandon divide-and-rule tactics that only deepen mistrust and risk reigniting conflict in Mindanao. Such an approach undermines not just the peace process but also the stability of the entire country.

For the labor movement, peace is not optional—it is fundamental. War is anathema to our very DNA. In every conflict, it is always the working class—whether among civilians or combatants—who bear the heaviest burdens of violence, displacement, and loss.

It is therefore imperative that the peace process is preserved, strengthened, and advanced. The future of Mindanao, and indeed the whole nation, depends on it.

WORKERS TO FIGHT HARDER IN THE 20TH CONGRESS FOR A LEGISLATED WAGE HIKE: TULOY ANG LABAN PARA SA DAAN-DAANG UMENTO SA KONGRESO—HINDI BARYA-BARYANG UMENTO MULA SA BULOK NA REGIONAL WAGE BOARDS!

The National Wage Coalition, composed of BMP, KMU, NAGKAISA!, and TUCP, vows to continue, with even greater resolve, the historic fight for the first-ever legislated wage hike in nearly four decades in the 20th Congress. Workers will not back down from the failure of the 19th Congress to convene the bicameral conference to reconcile and finalize an enrolled wage hike bill. Stronger and wiser, workers together with their families will continue to march forward in calling on every legislator in the House of Representatives and in the Senate to refile and pass the legislated wage hike bill as their first and foremost priority measure as they reaffirm their rhetoric of support and commitment for its swiftest passage in the 20th Congress. This is supported by the May 2025 Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey that confirms what we have long known: 92% of Filipinos want the Senate to prioritize a minimum wage hike; 95% demand the same from the House. This is not only an overwhelming public clamor but a national consensus for wage justice.

Palace Press Officer Claire Castro has reiterated that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. is not against wage hikes because these will benefit workers. But this Administration must walk the talk: certify the legislated wage hike as urgent and include it among the priority measures of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) because this is the raise that our nation and our people long demand and deserve—not the too little, too late, and certainly always unjust and unfair yearly wage increases from the regional wage boards. Their wage orders are a mere pittance insulting and condemning workers with not even enough to feed their families nutritious food, send their children to school, access medical help, or afford decent housing. And now, with oil prices surging due to global geopolitical conflicts, the cost of nearly every basic necessity is set to soar even higher. Standing for the legislated wage hike is not only good politics because it is good public service—it is a social, economic, and moral imperative.

For 36 long years, over five million minimum wage earners have been deprived of their Constitutional right to a living wage, entrusting their survival to the mercy of obsolete, failed, and broken regional wage boards which, by regularly handing out token scraps and crumbs to workers like spare change thrown to beggars, have inculcated helplessness and hopelessness among our people, conditioning them to accept by hook or by crook, sometimes even with gratefulness, any ‘barya-barya’ wage adjustment because it is better than nothing at all. Yet, both employers groups and the economic managers of our Government still perpetuate this systemic exploitation, serving the interest of overflowing greed, obscene profits, and an oppressive status quo designed primarily to favor the richest to be even richer, leaving workers not only with empty promises but empty plates. Their fake tales and scare tactics that the legislated wage hike will kill jobs, destroy businesses, and crash the economy have been heard, debunked, and buried not only by academics, economists, civil society, informal workers, and minimum wage earners but by the House and the Senate which, after years of exhaustive deliberations and debates, passed their respective wage hike bills.

With more time, and no more excuses, as well as greater unity and political action, workers across the nation will further organize and mobilize to reach out the countless unorganized workers paid even below the minimum, escalate the struggle with more allies and champions inside and outside of Congress, and carry out this movement of resistance and righteous anger: TULOY ANG LABAN. DAANG-DAANG DAGDAG-SAHOD ANG PANAWAGAN.HINDI BARYA-BARYA! HINDI SA SUSUNOD NA TAON—KUNDI NGAYON!

19th Congress and Malacañang Betrayed Workers

The 19th Congress has ended in treachery against the working class. The proposed ₱100-₱200 legislated wage hike, which was just two steps away from becoming law—requiring only bicameral approval and the President’s signature—was deliberately set aside and sacrificed in favor of capitalist interests.  

There is no one else to blame for this betrayal but Martin Romualdez and Chiz Escudero, the two leaders of the 19th Congress who were not just slow and indolent, but deceptive and fraudulent. However, workers must not forget that Martin and Chiz merely follow the orders of their master, Marcos Jr., whose stance on wage hikes is to leave it to the useless regional wage boards.  

There is no more fitting occasion for outrage against the three highest officials of the Philippines than this very Independence Day. These three should symbolize the lack of freedom of workers and the poor from poverty and hunger. They should represent the continuing oppression of the people, despite the so-called "progress" boasted by their economic managers.  

The 20th Congress will open with the same leadership —all traitors to workers, all captured by capital. There is no new hope under the institutions they lead.  

But we will not stop fighting for a just wage, the right to collective bargaining and organizing and the advancement of more reforms, including political reforms. Because if the working class gives up in the face of hopelessness, those in power will only further enjoy their wealth and power as a ruling class.   

We did not gain freedom just to be ruled by them forever.  True freedom and independece will one day be in the hands of the working class.