Ilonggos vent outrage: End corruption, hold officials accountable
Around 2,000 protesters gather in front of the Iloilo provincial capitol building in Iloilo City as part of the ‘Trillion Peso March’ against corruption on Sunday, September 21, 2025. (Photo by Ian Paul Cordero)
ILOILO CITY – From teachers to church leaders, students, and workers to lay members of the Catholic Church, protesters who joined the Trillion Peso March here on Sunday voiced a common call: end corruption and hold officials accountable.
About 10,000 to 15,000 participants joined the march, as estimated by Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (ICDRRMO). It ended with a concert past 8 p.m.
“It’s too much. That’s enough. Imprison those who corrupted our funds!” said Vivian Gencaya Nacion, 66, president of the Catholic Women’s League in the Archdiocese of Jaro and a member of the Commission on Laity.
Nacion, who traveled from San Joaquin, Iloilo, stressed that the laity must speak out as Catholics against the “un-Christian” practices of corrupt officials.
She said government leaders, despite already enjoying high salaries, still enrich themselves at the expense of ordinary workers.
“We will be the voice to make them realize their wrongdoings that are not accepted in the Catholic church,” she added.
Workers demand reform
Mario Andon, 65, of Bolilao, Mandurriao, and a member of Partido Manggagawa Panay, said corruption has long bled the economy dry.
He accused government cronies of benefiting from taxes while ordinary citizens are left without proper social services.
Participants in the “Trillion Peso March” in Iloilo City march through the city’s streets to Jaro Plaza, where they held their protest past 3 p.m. on Sunday, September 21, 2025, (Photo Julia Christine D. Manico)
“Reform government is what we continue to shout, even if leaders remain deaf,” Andon said, adding that corrupt officials should not only be jailed but permanently barred from returning to power.
Teachers,meanwhile, highlighted the neglect of education.
For Ruby Magbanua, 65, a resident of Iznart in Iloilo City Proper and member of ACT-Teachers Panay, corruption has worsened the long-standing neglect of education.
“Teachers suffer from meager salaries. Some students don’t even have proper classrooms—all because government has failed to pay attention to the education sector,” she said.
Magbanua lamented that while teachers and students struggle, funds are wasted on ghost projects. She demanded that stolen money be returned to the people.
“Only then will we get what we deserve.”
“In school, when we lie, we fail. In government, when they lie, unfortunately, they get rewarded,” education leader and social justice advocate Dr. Herman Lagon said, drawing cheers from students and community leaders who joined the anti-corruption rally.
Faith leaders call corruption ‘systemic’
Monsignor Marco Sulayao, spokesperson of the Kahublagan Kontra Korapsyon (KKK), said corruption today is no longer confined to a few projects or agencies but has become “systematic.”
“As long as the government is treated as a business to fill the pockets of leaders and their families, the future of the people will not be good,” Sulayao said.
He denounced both bureaucrat capitalism and political dynasties as the “roots of corruption,” insisting that these must be dismantled if the country is to move forward.
Despite their diverse backgrounds, the voices of Nacion, Andon, Magbanua, and Sulayao converged in anger and frustration.
From the streets of Iloilo City, they echoed the broader message of the nationwide Trillion Peso March: corruption must end, and the people deserve a government that serves, not exploits. / gsg
