Hello friends. With anger & desperation in my heart, I'm pleading you to help 216 Filipino youth— the youngest being NINE (9) years old— who are currently being illegally detained by the Philippine National Police in Manila.
The Philippines as of late has been protesting against the flagrant corruption being perpetrated by our government. They steal billions of dollars (mind: our currency is lower than US dollar) worth of taxpayers' money to fund their lavish lifestyles while we, the people, are dying of poverty, typhoons, curable illnesses, police brutality, and so many more injustices. WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH.
Last September 21, 2025, we held the largest protest in recent memory and one of the rally sites (Mendiola: where the seat of the government is located) escalated into violence— leaving many injured & one dead, after the police inundated the protesters with water cannons, tear gas, & bullets. They dragged anyone (protesters, locals, & bystanders) and threw them in jail without any regard for their rights.
There is a media blackout. Large news outlets are suppressing the truth. The cops & these so-called journalists make the marginalized culpable of the violence inflicted to them by the state while the real criminals remain protected by "due process" & are free to run outside of the country. Worse, many citizens are enthusiastically consenting to this inhumanity by hurling dehumanizing anti-poor epithets & classist rhetoric against the victims.
All hope isn't lost. Grassroots organizations, activists, lawyers, & ordinary folks are coming together to bring them home. It costs PHP 30,000 (roughly USD 500) to bail one (1) person out, but any amount would make difference.
If this has reached you, I'm begging you to donate to any of these organizations who are trying to help the victims and their families (food, medical assistance, transportation fees, bail fund, etc).
I cannot thank you enough for your support. No matter where we are in the world, we are being subjugated under the boot of fascism, imperialism, & capitalism. Our struggles are linked. Even the tiniest ray of liberation here can shine a light there.
The powers that be know that we are seeing that, and they are scared.
Sources (photos not mine):
AbolisyonPH - promoting police & prison abolition & anti-carceral feminism in the Philippines.
Saka - "alliance of artists, cultural workers, and creatives that support and advance land justice, peasant rights, and food security"
Atty. Maria Sol Taule - Filipino human rights lawyer (affiliation website found here)
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