Broad anti-corruption alliance Kilusang Bayan Kontra Kurakot (KBKK, or People’s Movement Against Corruption) trooped back to Luneta Park in Manila to pay tribute to Dr. Jose Rizal on his December 30 death anniversary. Luneta Park had witnessed anti-corruption protests of 100,000 people on September 21 and more than 20,000 people on November 30, led by KBKK and its member groups.

KBKK offered flowers at Rizal’s monument in Luneta Park as recognition of his martyrdom during the Spanish colonial occupation of the Philippines. The Spaniards executed Rizal on December 30, 1896, at the age of 35.

KBKK’s Dr. David Michael San Juan, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)’s Raymond Palatino, veteran activist Judy Taguiwalo, Teresita Ang-See, and other mass leaders led the flower offering. They also brought a banner carrying the call: “Down with corruption, social cancer! Jail the corrupt!”

According to the group, corruption in the country is a “social cancer” that must be eliminated. Rizal himself used “social cancer” to describe the Philippines’ systemic illness, including corruption, during the Spanish era, which he said would continue to spread unless cured. Rizal presented this in his novel Noli Me Tangere, published in 1887.

“Pork barrel and flood control project corruptions continue. We’re here to relentlessly press and hold the government accountable. No one has yet been jailed,” San Juan said. KBKK expressed disappointment that only small-time individuals involved in corruption get imprisoned, while the major and top corrupt officials in the country remain free.

KBKK expressed its commitment to continue fighting corruption and demanding accountability from the government next year, including president Ferdinand Marcos Jr, vice president Sara Duterte, and all those involved in plundering the nation.