EDSA is once again bracing for history. On September 21, the very highway that toppled a dictator in 1986 became the stage for another reckoning: the Trillion Peso March. But unlike the past, this uprising is not about ousting one man. It is about dismantling a trillion-peso cartel of corruption that has bled the nation through ghost projects, substandard flood-control works, and a network of politicians and contractors who turned disaster into profit.
The march, led by an unprecedented coalition of church leaders, was meant to be a moral uprising. Filipinos were called to wear white and flood the streets, demanding justice for families who lost homes, farmers whose fields were submerged, and children whose futures were washed away by corruption. As one bishop put it, “If the President has begun cleansing the temple, then let the people be the whip that drives the merchants out.”
Marcos opens the floodgates
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. detonated this reckoning himself. In his State of the Nation Address, he stunned the political establishment by calling for a purge of officials and contractors who had turned floodwaters into a cash stream. He personally inspected sites in Bulacan and Mindoro, exposing ghost structures and rotting embankments that collapsed at the slightest rain. “These are not just failed projects,” a Palace insider said. “These are crimes—sabotage against the Filipino people.”
True to his word, Marcos changed leadership at the Department of Public Works and Highways, ordered a housecleaning of its ranks, and gave a clear mandate: cleanse or be removed. So far, over 20 cases have been filed, more than 600 assets frozen by the Anti-Money Laundering Council, and an independent commission formed to prosecute those involved—politicians included.
For decades, whispers of a flood-control mafia swirled in the air. Under Marcos, those whispers became names, networks, and cases.
The hijackers of September 21
Yet even as the people rallied behind this crusade, opportunists sought to twist the march into their own stage. The DDS, the yellows, the pinks, and the Reds each tried to hijack the spirit of the Trillion Peso March.
The Duterte loyalists were the most brazen. They attempted to weaponize the public’s anger not to demand justice, but to topple the Marcos administration and install Vice President Sara Duterte in Malacañang. But what credibility does Sara have? Her brother, Paolo “Polong” Duterte, received P51 billion in flood-control allocations from 2000 to 2020 during their father’s rule—money now tainted by scandal. Sara herself has yet to account for over P600 million in confidential funds. And their father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, sits in detention in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity. For the DDS to parade as champions of reform is hypocrisy of the highest order.
Then came the yellows and pinks, eager to repaint themselves as democracy’s saviors. But let us not forget: they squandered the gains of EDSA 1 and 2. They enriched themselves, entrenched dynasties, and normalized corruption. It is precisely because they betrayed the spirit of People Power that a Trillion Peso March became necessary. The Reds, meanwhile, tried to inject their tired slogans, pushing ideological fantasies with no real solutions.
These groups all share one goal: to hijack the people’s outrage for their own power games. They failed the nation before, and now they want a second chance to fail it again.
Not about regime change
Let the truth be clear: the Trillion Peso March is not about regime change. The Filipino people did not march to enthrone Sara Duterte, resurrect yellow politics, or validate communist slogans. They marched to demand accountability for the theft that has left the nation literally drowning. They marched to ensure that the system is cleansed—not recycled by another cabal of thieves.
The DDS dream of returning to power. The yellows and pinks hope to redeem their disgraced names. The Reds seek to use anger as fuel for chaos. But the people must guard against these hijackers. The protest is not theirs to exploit.
Guarding the spirit of EDSA
If EDSA once toppled tyranny, then the Trillion Peso March must topple the tyranny of greed. But it must do so without surrendering its soul to opportunists. This is the true “Never Again” that the nation must live by—not just never again to dictatorship, but never again to hijacking the people’s will.
Marcos has begun the cleansing. The people must ensure it is not derailed. Let the corrupt face justice, whether they wear red, yellow, pink, or DDS colors. Let the families who enriched themselves at the expense of the poor be held accountable.
The march was a line in the sand. It reminded us that corruption is not just theft—it is sin. But it also reminded us of the need for vigilance. Never again should EDSA’s spirit be hijacked by factions who care only for power. Never again should outrage be twisted into a shortcut back to Malacañang.
This time, Filipinos must finish what EDSA began: not just to topple the corrupt, but to refuse to let them rise again in new disguises.