Throughout September 2025, longtime corruption within the Philippines drove the nation towards a period of rampant protests. Starting as early as the first week of September, rallies and marches swept the Philippines with citizens speaking out against the corruption plaguing the Filipino government.
Cracks in the government began appearing in late July 2025, after Typhoon Co-may devastated the Pangasinan province on July 25. On July 28, 2025, several days after Co-may, Philippines President .Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. issued his 2025 State of the Nation Address, where he first acknowledged the presence of anomalies and corruption in flood control projects across the nation. “Let’s stop pretending. The public widely knows such projects invite rackets–kickbacks, initiatives, erratas, SOPs, ‘for the boys.’ So to those conniving to steal from public funds and rob our citizens of our future, you should be ashamed of your fellow Filipinos!” President Marcos Jr. voiced to Congress in his speech. Additionally, President Marcos Jr. demanded for a list of every Philippines flood control project since the beginning of his presidency in 2022 from the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) with the intention to audit and publicize said list.
On August 11, two weeks after his speech President Marcos Jr. released data regarding the list of flood control projects. Findings from the audit revealed 6,091 of the 9,855 flood control projects flagged interest due to a failure to meet proper specifications regarding information about the structure itself. The amount of flagged projects amounts up to two-thirds of the total number of flood control projects in the Philippines and around 350 billion pesos spent. Data also raised alerts about the involvement of ghost projects within the network of flood control projects. The involvement of ghost projects subsequently resulted in inadequate flood control structures, built with weaker materials, less effort, and less funding.
Due to the concerning frequency of flagged projects, Marcos Jr. and Philippine Congress launched deeper searches, forming an independent commission in early September to seek out the corruption lingering within the projects. Suspicion aimed towards private contractors such as Sarah Discaya, who showcased her wealth through her collection of expensive cars amidst the investigations. Upon inquiry, Discaya denied any suspicion of corruption within her construction companies, and dodged allegations along with her husband, Curlee Discaya.
On September 4, public retaliation began escalating, with numerous activist groups rallying around St. Gerrard, a construction property owned by Sarah and Curlee Discaya. Activists named the Discaya contractors thieves, and vandalized the St. Gerrard property with mud. Spray-painted phrases such as ‘magnanakaw’ (thief), ‘kurakot’ (corrupt), and ‘ikulong’ (shut up) lined the walls of St. Gerrard. “While we are being submerged in floods and mud, they are sinking in stolen money,” Jonila Castro, spokesperson of Kalikasan, blames corrupt contractors for ghost project scandals and manipulating the public to donate money for nonexistent projects.
Protests erupted across the nation throughout the entire month. On September 12, students and faculty across different universities such as UP Diliman, UP Manila, UP Tacloban, and UP DEPPO hosted campus walkouts in an event labeled ‘Black Friday’ protests to retaliate against corruption in the DPWH. Marcos Jr. took side with the angered protestors, encouraging retaliation albeit peaceful, “I’m angry. We should all be angry. Because what’s happening is not right.”
On September 21, a multitude of planned protests in Manila and other populated Philippines cities dubbed the ‘Trillion Peso March’ sent the country into a spiral of chaos. Protesters rioted against the corruption in an array of both peaceful and aggressive rallies. Over 33,000 citizens rallied in Manila’s Rizal Park, including celebrities, families, and organization members. Peaceful protests included chants demanding the incarceration of corrupt politicians and contractors, and signs acknowledging the embezzlement of public funds. “If there’s a budget for ghost projects, then why is there no budget for the health sector?” Aly Villahermosa, a nursing student impacted by the floods and corruption, questioned the misuse of public funds. Passive rallies turned to violent riots, with masked protesters setting fire to barricades and throwing rocks at Manila police. Protesters also attempted to storm the presidential palace compound with brute force. The day after the Trillion Peso March, police arrested over 200 protesters including minors, and 131 officers suffered injuries as a result of scuffles with aggressive rioters.
As of October 9, 2025, anticorruption protests continue to sweep the Philippines. Activist groups including the Trillion Peso March movement intend on rallying against corruption every Friday beginning October 10. The movement plans for the weekly protests to culminate towards November 30, 2025, another planned demonstration similar to the September 21 Trillion Peso March. “I feel bad that we wallow in poverty and we lose our homes, our lives, and our future while they rake in a big fortune from our taxes that pay for their luxury cars, foreign trips and bigger corporate transactions,” Althea Trinidad, a student activist, voices her frustrations to the Associated Press. In the span of two years (2023-25), corruption in the flood control network cost up to 118.5 billion pesos for the Philippines economy.
As of October 22, 2025, foreign nations do not demonstrate direct involvement regarding the protests; however, foreign embassies across the Philippines acknowledged the protests, and issued safety warnings to their citizens. Despite the lack of foreign involvement, similar anticorruption protests swept several countries in the Southeastern Asia region.
