Hundreds of citizens, mainly farmers and fisherfolks, from Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon marched to Mendiola yesterday, July 1, to condemn the incompetent Marcos regime as it enters its third year in power. The protest was led by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan).

Before reaching Mendiola, the protesters were blocked by police at the Legarda Street area. According to Teddy Casiño, Bayan leader, this is proof of the Marcos regime’s anti-farmer and anti-people character.

The protesters held the Marcos regime accountable for the worsening economic crisis experienced by the Filipino people. For the farmers, the past two years have been challenging as the rice industry crisis intensified, food prices soared, and the state of the agricultural sector further deteriorated.

“Over the past two years, what Marcos Jr did was to rehash and repackage his late dictator father’s policies—Masagana, KADIWA, and now, the Bagong Pilipinas, in an effort to revive the so-called Marcos legacy,” KMP leader Ka Danilo Ramos said.

The farmers stressed that the agricultural sector, which is the backbone of the country’s food security, is being attacked by policies favoring foreign interests and neglecting the needs of local producers. This has been exacerbated by the regime’s import policies that have further burdened the farmers.

“Like previous regimes, Marcos Jr. persisted with neoliberal policies that has stunted national development and worsened the chronic economic crisis,” according to Ka Danilo. He said the country remains mired in debt, with high inflation and skyrocketing prices of goods and cost of living.

Faced with this challenges, the KMP called for unity and the push for genuine land reform and national-democratic solutions to the worsening agricultural and food crisis.

The sectors participating in the rally carried an effigy dubbed the “Marcos Ka-Budol Store” depicting the most severe and anti-people policies of the Marcos regime in the past two years.

Meanwhile, farmers and groups in Bicol, Ilocos, Panay, Negros, and Cebu also held protest actions and farm mobilizations.