Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and its progressive organizations will not back down from their planned major rally on EDSA this coming February 25, marking the 40th EDSA uprising anniversary. The groups are determined to proceed with the rally in defiance of the Marcos regime’s “no permit, no rally” policy.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the National Capital Region Police Office recently announced that they will strictly enforce this repressive policy on that day. On top of this, government agencies will ban calls for Ferdinand Marcos Jr to step down from power.

Bayan president Renato Reyes Jr said they will proceed with the march to EDSA Ortigas where they will hold a program. He said they will assert the protest “to highlight the value and necessity of ‘people power’ and to hold the Marcoses accountable for their crimes in the past and the present.”

Reyes added that the ban openly contradicts the very spirit of EDSA. “We will celebrate the power of the people, not the power of the police, not the power of the state, and not the fascist measures of an isolated regime that leans on the Marcos dictatorship’s legal remnants,” he said.

According to Koalisyong Makabayan, an electoral coalition of progressive parties, “The struggle continues. The protest continues. With or without a permit.” It added that the EDSA Uprising then did not need a permit, and that no permit is needed now to protest on February 25.

The major rally at EDSA Ortigas will be led by the broad anti-corruption alliance Kilusang Bayan Kontra Kurakot (KBKK, or People’s Anti-Corruption Movement), which includes Bayan and Koalisyong Makabayan. KBKK issued a united statement signed by numerous groups and individuals who will join the action. They call for the continuation of people power against corruption and poverty and for truth, justice, and accountability.

KBKK also assailed what it called the “Marcosian” “no rally zone” policy on EDSA. “We condemn these repressive and undemocratic policies against the people who are demanding accountability for rampant corruption,” KBKK convenor Niña Fegi said.

Meanwhile, Bishop Gerardo Alminaza issued an appeal to government agencies regarding the said policy. He said the rally ban runs counter to the spirit of the historic gathering on EDSA where Filipinos united with courage and in prayer to end the dictatorship.

“We call for conscience. We call for accountability. We call for a democracy that listens instead of represses,” he said. Bishop Alminaza, currently bishop of San Carlos City in Negros Occidental, is Caritas Philippines president and Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines Episcopal Commission on Social Action chairperson. He is one of the hundreds of leaders who signed KBKK’s united statement.