After the Trillion Peso March, groups of anti-corruption advocates are mounting a nationwide White Friday Protest.
Starting today and every Friday, the Trillion Peso March Movement will mount a noise barrage and candle lighting to demand accountability and transparency in government spending.
‘This is not just a protest – it’s a people’s vigil for truth, justice, and reform,’ the movement said in a statement. ‘From homes to highways, parishes to workplaces, we’re inviting everyone to make noise and light candles until every peso of the people’s money is accounted for.’
The launch event will be highlighted by a 6 p.m. mass at EDSA Shrine, followed by a noise barrage, candle lighting, and the singing of Bayan Ko.
There will also be ringing of all church bells every 8 p.m., described as ‘both a prophetic cry of indignation and outrage against the evil of corruption, and a resounding call to contrition and conversion.’
The St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Scout Magbanua, Quezon City, will lead a noise barrage and bell ringing, headed by Rev. Fr. Romerico Prieto, in solidarity with communities nationwide echoing the same call for truth and accountability.
Noise barrage and candlelighting hubs will also kick off in local parishes and communities across Metro Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod and other regions nationwide. Participants are encouraged to wear white as a symbol of truth and unity
The Trillion Peso March Movement also emphasized that the weekly protest transcends politics. ‘We will keep the noise alive until accountability is achieved. Every whistle, every candle, every voice matters,’ it said.
Hypocritical
The Philippines should focus on anti-corruption reforms instead of applying to be co-chair of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) for next year, former finance undersecretary Cielo Magno said yesterday.
Magno spoke on Monday at the OGP’s Global Summit in the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, where the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management was named ‘overall winner’ and ‘national level winner’ of ‘anti-corruption theme.’
In a Facebook post, Magno told Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman that the awards mean nothing if the agency fails to prevent massive corruption in the procurement process.
‘The Philippines is a founding member but failed to deliver a fully operational legal guarantee for the right to information up to now,’ the former finance official-turned-transparency advocate said.
It is hypocritical, she said, for the Philippine government to aim as a co-chair of the OGP-a 74-member group promoting transparency, civil participation, inclusivity and accountability in governance-given the prevalence and massiveness of corruption issues.
‘We must be doing something wrong in terms of impact monitoring in OGP because these mentioned reforms fail to have a genuine impact,’ Magno underscored.
‘We can have co-created plans and commitments, but they can be just nicely written essays, but actually are meaningless for the citizens,’ she added.
In a scathing speech, Magno lamented that civil society groups advocating for transparency are ‘under attack’ by adversarial personalities, from digital trolls to the upper echelons of government.
‘We are not just ‘stakeholders,” she said. ‘We are co-creators, watchdogs, and the moral backbone of this movement, so we cannot let ourselves be divided into ‘us’ and ‘them.”
‘Governments and civil society are not adversaries-we are partners in accountability,’ she stressed.
Philippine civil society groups are increasingly asserting their role in the budget process. Despite assurances from House leaders to foster inclusion, many groups feel sidelined as mere observers.
‘We would like to have the opportunity to be called upon to give our opinion,’ AJ Montesa, technical advisor at People’s Budget Coalition (PBC), a group of civil society organizations accredited by the House to monitor the budget deliberations, told One News’ ‘Money Talks’ in September.
Clamoring for a more active role, Montesa said that ‘our goal is really to become resource persons.’
In a joint statement on Tuesday, the PBC and five other groups alleged that the House Budget Amendments Review Subcommittee’s version of the 2026 National Expenditure Program contains over P230 billion in pork barrel, despite the Supreme Court declaring it unconstitutional a decade ago.