The Cry of the Past and the March of Today
The Cry of the Past and the March of Today
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November 30, 2025
‘Ibigin mo ang iyóng Bayan nang sunód kay Bathalà (Love your Country next to God).’ The words of Andres Bonifacio hold true on his day, November 30, as people, Church groups, and labor organizations protest in the Trillion Peso March as the country declines with its economic and political issues.
Challenges in the Philippines
The peso-dollar rate declined to P59.17 to a US dollar this November; it was thought that the P59.13 last October was already an all-time low. According to news outlets, market confidence in the Philippines has already plummeted. To add salt to the wound, the issues of minimum wage and contractualization remain unsolved.
The government has also caused another scandal as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) condescended on the people that P500 is sufficient for the noche buena of a family of four: Christmas ham at P170, spaghetti at P80, macaroni salad at P150, fruit salad at P100, and Pinoy Pandesal at P30. The gaslighting was severe as netizens took to social media.
Aside from the economic issues, the Philippines remains as one of the world’s most disaster-prone in 2025 with the added burden of a lax disaster-response. As earthquakes repetitively hit Cebu and Davao hard, capacity-building is generally weak.
Well, the corrupt Philippine establishment has a heavy hand in all of this, as the issues of flood and ‘greed’ control at alleged billions of pesos, the ‘war on drugs’ issue, and the continued lobbying at Congress are intertwined in a Marcos-Duterte feud. The recent issue being the sister of the incumbent President revealing that the First Family is full of drug users.
Bonifacio Day
With the challenges that the Philippines currently faces, it would seem improbable for a protest, such as the ‘Trillion Peso March,’ to potentially change these, especially intricately connected all of the issues are. A protest would not move an inherently incapable and incompetent government.
Nevertheless, the Trillion Peso March coincides with an important Philippine holiday, Bonifacio Day. On November 30, the Philippines commemorates the father of its revolution, Andres Bonifacio—Supremo of the Katipunan. It was under his leadership and patriotic idealism that an organized and well-armed militia was drawn from the native Filipino folk.
Like the Philippines today, the ‘powers that be’ controlled every institution during the Spanish era. Hoping against all hope, it was under Bonifacio’s leadership that the love for country prevailed over fear as manifested in the immortal Cry of Pugad Lawin in Caloocan. A solid and unified national identity was made through a revolution, albeit violent.
Trillion Peso March
The Philippines could learn something from its history, beyond violence: the love for country must remain absolute. With a declining peso, a ‘P500 noche buena,’ a disaster-prone land, and a corrupt government, it is the moral and civic duty of every citizen to engage in social activism, non-violent yet firm.
Despite the issues that prevail in our country today, the Trillion Peso March’ reveals that the spirit of patriotism and unity is still present and alive. The search for the ‘just and humane society’ in the preamble of our 1987 Constitution continues.
Real "Change is Coming"
Now, the former president, currently at The Hague, once promised ‘change is coming.’ It has been a decade since and the country has turned worse with the bloody ‘war on drugs.’ The next President was the same—incompetent.
The country is at the crossroads of that same Cry of Pugad Lawin—a cry for Justice! The people now hold the cedula that binds them to this incorrigible system. It is now high time for the Filipino people to tear it down.
The country—‘Inang Bayan’—needed every Filipino last September. Now, every Filipino is called to be the true, coming ‘change’ that the country needs this Trillion Peso March.
Image on the right: The Filipino Struggles Through History [Mural], Carlos Botong Francisco | Courtesy of Lifestyle Inquirer
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