KARAPATAN scores Malacañang, Manila mayor on threats vs anti-corruption protesters
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS RELEASE
6 September 2025
Reference: Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general, 09173162831
KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580
KARAPATAN scores Malacañang, Manila mayor on threats vs anti-corruption protesters
“Are Malacañang and local officials afraid that the anti-corruption protests will eventually lead to their doorsteps?” Human rights alliance KARAPATAN asked this as presidential spokesperson Claire Castro sought to quelch public outrage over explosive exposés of bureaucratic corruption by repeating claims made by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) that the Left has been riding on the issue to radicalize the youth. Manila mayor Isko Moreno, on the other hand, invoked the peace and order mantra and took quite a leap by branding as “mob rule” the pelting by scores of youth activists of rotten fruit and water bombs at the Department of Public Works and Highways national office on September 4.
In Pasig City, Mayor Vico Sotto appealed to protesters to “keep calm” and have patience with the legal process after demonstrators hurled mud at, and painted graffiti on the office facade of billionaire contractor Sarah Discaya who is in hot water after revelations that her company has been making a killing from anomalous flood control projects.
Said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay, “Such shows of public indignation are to be expected given that Discaya and her ilk along with their corrupt politician patrons have been foisting defective flood control projects on the people for decades, causing widespread suffering.”
Instead of appreciating the public’s wokeness and militancy, however, Malacañang seems to fear that the anti-corruption campaign it initiated is coming back to bite it, said Palabay. “Marcos Jr. has even expressed concern that anti-corruption protests in the Philippines may eventually mirror those in Indonesia where demonstrators erupted in anger after legislators callously voted to raise their benefits amid strict budget cuts to education, health and public works and widespread corruption within the government’s military and civilian elite,” she added.
“The international community has criticized the Indonesian government’s disproportionate use of force against the protesters,” said Palabay. “It was the death of a bystander who was run over after the Indonesian police rammed an armored truck through a largely peaceful group of protesters that sparked ever bigger and more militant demonstrations across Indonesia,” she added.
“Malacañang and Mayor Isko Moreno should realize that their warnings and thinly veiled threats of reprisal against the protesting public comprise disproportionate responses. They merely solidify the public’s suspicions that they have dirt to hide, and can only lead to escalating protests,” concluded Palabay.
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KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties. It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign.