Recently, the youth movement in Nepal shook the government, the facilities of MPs in Indonesia had to be withdrawn under public pressure and now another country in South-East Asia and the neighboring Philippines of China are stuck in a huge political crisis.
Lakhs of people are going to hit the road in the capital Manila on Sunday, September 21 in the name of Trillian Peso March. This movement is against billions of dollars scams in government funds and luxurious lifestyle of children of leaders.
Flood and corruption double hit
In the Philippines, the anger of the public is not only from corruption, but also from the human tragedy arising from it. The severe floods in the last months disturbed the entire country. The roads of the capital turned into rivers, people were stuck in water for hours, vehicles were washed away and millions of people were unable to live everyday life.
The situation deteriorated so much that diseases like leptospirosis begins to spread, which spreads with dirty water and mice and causes serious damage to the liver. Common people are asking that when they pay tax every month, then why this money was not spent in protecting from floods and improving infrastructure. The anger is that the government showed crores of crores of rupees in flood control projects, but the result remained only on paper.
Bullying angry on social media
The real glimpse of this movement of the Philippines is being seen on social media. On the ticket, Facebook and X (Twitter), leaders are being made mimes as crocodiles and they are being shown as greedy demons by making AI videos. They are especially on the targets of the public, they are Napo Babies, that is, children of leaders, whose lifestyle is well known on social media. Luxury cars convoy, designer clothes, expensive bags and pictures of the world roaming. All these are now sprinkling salt on the burn of the general public.
Trillion peso march and scam revealed
This major performance on Sunday has been named Trillion Peso March. The name came from a report by Greenpeace, claiming that in the year 2023, about 17.6 billion $ 17.6 billion related to climate and flood control projects, or about 1.4 lakh crore rupees, was corruption.
An audit who came recently gave more air to this resentment. The report revealed that about 70 percent of the money, which should have been spent on flood control projects, disappeared in scams. Many dams and security walls were just on paper, not on the ground. The heat of this scam grew so much that Martin Romeuldage, a close to the President and the speaker of Parliament, had to resign. Many MPs and contractors have been accused of taking bribe and cash payment.
Historical importance of date
The protesters did not choose the day of 21 September. This is the date when in 1972, the then President Ferdinand Marcos set up martial law in the country. That dictatorship and corruption finally overthrown their power through a large mass movement in 1986. The irony today is that his son Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Junior is the President of the country and the anger of the people is against his government.
He has formed a three -member commission under the chairmanship of a former judge of the Supreme Court to control the situation. But the public is considering it as just a time pass and saying that if the real accountability is not fixed, then this movement can turn power like Nepal.
