Trillion Peso March organizers staging protest on Nov. 30

MANILA, Philippines —   The organizers of the “Trillion Peso March” are staging another major protest against corruption, this time on Nov. 30, Bonifacio Day.

The Church Leaders Council for National Transformation (CLCNT) has joined other faith-based organizations and civil society groups to form the Trillion Peso March Movement, which will hold various activities to sustain outrage over the money lost to corruption in government projects.

These activities include wearing white
 ribbons, organizing noise barrages and candlelight vigils, fasting and holding masses.

Another rally will take place on Nov. 30 in a march for “justice, truth and accountability.”

“This will be bigger, wider and fiercer than the Sept. 21 rally,” Judy Ann Miranda, secretary-general of Partido Manggagawa, said on Wednesday during a press conference at Club Filipino in San Juan.

Details are still being finalized.

Organizers estimate that over 100,000 people attended both the Luneta and People Power Monument rallies that day, which were mostly peaceful aside from the chaos that erupted at Ayala Bridge and Mendiola Peace Arch.

The Trillion Peso March Movement also released a manifesto calling on every Filipino to “join the collective struggle for a transparent, honest and accountable government” by demanding the current regime to expedite the prosecution of corruption cases and ensure public access to politicians’ statements of assets, liabilities and net worth, among others.

Signatories included the CLCNT, Manila Ecclesiastical Province School Systems Association, Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines and Caritas Philippines.

Kidapawan Bishop Jose Colin52 Bagaforo, the president of Caritas and CLCNT convenor, maintained that this movement is “non-political.”

“We are only running after the truth,” Bagaforo said.

Any element with a hidden political agenda, the prelate added, will be removed from the coalition.