The youth rejected the Philippine National Police (PNP)’s threat that it would not allow rallies and demonstrations without a permit. They insisted that the people do not need permission to express their anger and demand accountability from corrupt contractors, bureaucrat capitalists, and Marcos himself.

“The people’s anger and demands are justified, and your permits will not stop us. Punish the thieves in Congress, Senate, and Malacañang,” Anakbayan national chairperson Mhing Gomez said.

He said that the PNP must stop using “peace and order” as an excuse to require protest permits. “Peace and order for whom? Peace for Marcos Jr. and the likes of him who are corrupt. A rotten order that allows corruption,” Gomez stated.

He said the Marcos regime abandoned “peace and order” long ago when it plundered the people. “No peace and order exist when the government itself steals from and kills its people,” he said.

For Kabataan Partylist, this PNP tactic shows that Marcos fears the youth’s united voice in the streets. “Marcos Jr obviously fears the Filipino people knowing he is also the mastermind and ultimately accountable for widespread plunder,” Kabataan Representative and Assistant Minority Leader Atty. Renee Co said.

Co also mocked Marcos’s recent invitation for Filipinos to go to Malacañang to attend his birthday celebration on September 13. “Ordinary Filipinos are welcome in Malacañang for a birthday party but not for a protest? Marcos Jr even gifted barbed wire fences to those who approach. The billions stolen from the people cannot be replaced by a small gathering in the Palace,” Co said.

Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is sowing terror and stirring unrest in announcing that the entire military had been placed on “red alert” in the face of the successive protests against corruption. According to the AFP, the “red alert” declared on September 12 was in support of the PNP.

Amid the outright threats and repression by the PNP, AFP, and the whole Marcos regime, Anakbayan declared that this further proves the youth and the people must act against corruption. They said that the Marcoses and his officials deserve to be disrupted and not silenced until they are held accountable for their multiple layers of corruption and crimes against the people.

“We, the youth alongside the people, will continue to demand accountability and fight in whatever manner is necessary. To fight is justified and necessary,” Gomez added.

In related news, Kabataan Partylist and ACT Teachers Partylist filed in the House of Representatives on September 15 a bill repealing Batas Pambansa Blg. 880 or the “Public Assembly Act of 1985,” a law imposed by the Marcos dictatorship at the time.