INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines — The Makabayan Coalition has launched the “Programa para sa Pambansang Demokrasya,” which it described as an alternative governance program that rejects President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte amid the political crisis in the country.
In a press conference on Saturday, Makabayan President Liza Maza stressed that Marcos and Duterte should step down from their posts, citing corruption allegations against the two top leaders.
“Hindi Marcos, Hindi Duterte: Alternatibong Programa para sa Pambansang Demokrasya [No Marcos, No Duterte: Alternative Program for National Democracy],” Maza said.
“The ‘Programa para sa Pambansang Demokrasya’ is a comprehensive agenda of change that rejects both Marcos and Duterte as the people’s false and only option and lays out a firm alternative to the rotten, elitist, and pro-foreign system that has long burdened the Filipino people,” she said speaking Filipino.
“The program was born amid the people’s intensifying anger over corruption, rising poverty, a weakening economy, and the lack of accountability of successive regimes that pushed the country into crisis—from the Marcos dictatorship to the Marcos Jr. administration today,” she added in Filipino.
Makabayan said the alternative program proposes that every sector of society—including workers, farmers, the urban poor, Indigenous peoples, youth, women, and other marginalized groups—should have representation in government.
The group also called for the abolition of political dynasties, the accountability of corrupt and abusive government officials, and the scrapping of the pork barrel system and other roots of corruption in the country.
Also present at the program launch were Kabataan party-list Rep. Renee Co, ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, Gabriela party-list Rep. Sarah Elago, former congressmen Teddy Casino and Satur Ocampo, Kilusang Mayo Uno Secretary General Ronaldo Adonis, Bayan President Renato Reyes, and Filipino Nurses United Secretary General Jocelyn Andamo.
The government is currently grappling with controversies amid the ongoing investigation into infrastructure projects nationwide.
President Marcos was recently implicated by resigned Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co in alleged infrastructure anomalies, claiming the President ordered the insertion of P100 billion worth of projects into the 2025 national budget.
Vice President Duterte was also implicated in a corruption scandal over the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds by her office and the Department of Education during her tenure—an issue that led to the filing of an impeachment complaint against her. The case is currently archived in the Senate. /jpv