SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Chanting prayers and raising banners, thousands of Kapampangans gathered at the Metropolitan Cathedral on Thursday afternoon in one of the most forceful regional rebukes yet of the Marcos administration’s flood control scandal.
The rally, titled “Isang Bayan, Isang Laban, Tapusin ang Katiwalian” (“One Nation, One Fight: End Corruption”), began with a Mass before swelling into a demonstration of some 3000 residents, farmers, professionals, youth groups, clergy, and civic leaders joined forces to denounce what they called systemic theft of public funds through ghost flood control projects.
Organizers described the action as a moral and political stand. “Kapampangans have long suffered from floods,” one speaker declared. “Every peso stolen from these projects is another family submerged in water.”
The Pampanga rally was part of a growing wave of protests across the country, culminating in a planned September 21 national gathering at Luneta Park and the EDSA Shrine. The date — the anniversary of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s declaration of martial law — was chosen to highlight what activists see as continuity between past abuses of power and present-day corruption.” Marcos -Romualdez noon at ngayon Marcos-Romualdez pa rin ngayon sa Korapsyon, said Alex Cauguiran one of the lead convenor of CCP.
The demonstrations also followed the resignation of House Speaker Martin Romualdez, who stepped down after being named in Senate hearings on the scandal. His departure marked the most significant political casualty so far in the controversy, which has rattled the Marcos presidency.