According to an article published by Asia Times on September 21, large-scale protests erupted in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, with more than 100,000 people taking to the streets, condemning the systemic corruption behind billions of dollars in ghost projects, and the scene once fell out of control.

The police mobilized nearly 30,000 riot police to maintain stability in the Greater Manila area, and deployed 50,000 personnel nationwide to prevent the protests from escalating.

This scene brings to mind the People Power Revolution of 1986 that overthrew the elder Marcos.

The difference this time is that the public's anger now targets Marcos' son - a president who had once promised unity and reconstruction.

This storm is not just an isolated scandal but a total outbreak of systemic failure.

From the speaker of the House suspected of dividing the budget, to audits revealing thousands of non-existent flood control projects in 54.5 billion pesos, to public doubts about the entire ruling family continuing the oligarchic rule, the Philippines is now heading towards a complete governance collapse.

Even opposition MP De Lima openly stated that this is not just a case of corruption, but a betrayal of the system.

At the forefront of the protest at this moment are the Gen Z youth who are well-educated and skilled in online mobilization.

Unlike the previous generation, they are not waiting for the system to be fixed, but are demanding a reckoning with everything of the Marcos family.

Protest scene

Therefore, this round of protests is very similar to two other recent protests in Asia.

In Nepal, the government sparked massive protests led by the Gen Z due to blocking social media and tolerating high-level corruption, eventually leading to the resignation of the prime minister, dissolution of parliament, and a restart of elections.

The other one was Indonesia, where multiple cities experienced riots due to issues like corrupt legislators' allowances, with protesters burning down parliamentary buildings, forcing the government to urgently freeze related bills.

The common points of these two events are obvious:

First, they were all led by young people.

Second, they were all about institutional corruption and the privileged class.

Third, they all rapidly deteriorated because the authorities underestimated public opinion and tried to shift the blame.

The situation in the Philippines is almost identical to that in Nepal: larger amounts of corruption, stronger family coloration, and deeper societal division.

Nepal's ultimate fall of the regime was not only because the protesters were so radical, but because the government always refused to touch the real core interests.

The Philippines is now facing a similar turning point. This protest event has already exceeded that in Indonesia in intensity, although it hasn't reached the level of Nepal yet, the trend is quite clear.

Protest scene

Facing this crisis, President Marcos Jr. tried to use traditional "cutting" tactics: removing his cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez, forcing the Minister of Public Works to resign, and establishing a three-person investigation committee to calm the rising public sentiment.

However, this old script of finding scapegoats no longer works effectively.

The speaker is his cousin, the minister of public works is his loyalist, and the so-called internal cleanup is just changing horses without changing the saddle, and the substantive issues remain untouched.

The protesters are most angry because the country's money was directly divided, and those who took it were exactly the president and his confidants.

President Marcos Jr. missed the initial window to stop the bleeding.

When the scandal first broke out, he tried to cover it up, and then throwing out a few scapegoats could not calm the public resentment, but instead triggered even stronger demands for him to step down.

Protest scene

Facts have proven that there is a father, there is a son. The Filipinos chose to launch a "final attack" on the day when the elder Marcos imposed martial law, obviously seeing this point.

President Marcos Jr. once tried to distance himself from his father, promising not to take the same path, but facts show that they are both the same.

The elder Marcos was finally driven out by the people's shouts; now, Marcos Jr. returned to politics relying on family resources, but repeated his father's script.

The People Power Revolution of the past overthrew the elder Marcos; now, the protests are becoming a "People Power 2.0".

The only difference is that this time, the people will not give him a second chance.

History has given the Marcos family an opportunity to escape, and they chose to return to the starting point.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7552749878247342631/

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