Protesters at the Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila on September 21, 2025 call for accountability over alleged systemic corruption in government-funded projects. Screenshot from video by Dennis Datu, ABS-CBN News
MANILA — Protesters, mostly supporters of former President Rodrigo Duterte, gathered at Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila on Sunday to demand accountability over alleged systemic corruption in government-funded projects.
The gathering differed from major mass protests led by civil society groups, political and religious organizations, and student groups at the People Power Monument along EDSA and at Rizal Park in Manila.
Carrying Philippine flags, the protesters at Liwasang Bonifacio focused their criticism on corruption under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and urged rallyists in Luneta to join them, claiming theirs was the true protest against corruption.
Among the groups present at the protest were the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) and Noble Sultanate Empire of the Philippines.
On Sunday morning, former military generals also gathered at Gate 4 of Camp Aguinaldo, the headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Quezon City.
The retired generals likewise demanded accountability over the flood-control projects and called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to step down.
They were joined by former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, who is also the vice chair of former President Rodrigo Duterte's party, PDP–Laban.
The group at Camp Aguinaldo was expected to proceed to Liwasang Bonifacio on Sunday afternoon to join the protest there.
Duterte is in the custody of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the Netherlands, where he is accused of crimes against humanity for the deadly anti-illegal drugs crackdowns he oversaw while in office. — Reports from Dennis Datu and Job Manahan, ABS-CBN News