Makabayan Southern Mindanao

07/09/2026

MARCOS SINGILIN, PANAGUTIN!

Inuutos na ng Sandiganbayan Third Division ang pag-aresto laban sa dating House Speaker na si Martin Romualdez sa kasong plunder kaugnay ng korapsyon sa likod ng mga maanomalyang flood control projects. Kasama rin sa kinasuhan si dating Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co at dalawa pang iba.

Sa loob ng isang taon mula nang bumaha ng mga malawakang protesta ng mamamayan, nananatiling malinaw ang panawagan: hindi maaaring sina Martin Romualdez at Zaldy Co lamang ang managot sa bilyun-bilyong pondong ninakaw mula sa mga Flood Control Project. Dapat ding panagutin si Bongbong Marcos Jr., bilang pinakamataas na opisyal ng pamahalaan sa kanyang pananagutan sa mga proyektong sangkot sa malawakang korapsyon.

07/09/2026

PRESS STATEMENT

Liza Maza
President
Koalisyong Makabayan
September 07, 2026

MAKABAYAN: SCAPEGOATING MARTIN AND ZALDY WON’T ABSOLVE MARCOS — LET JUSTICE REACH THE PALACE

The Koalisyong Makabayan, will continue to be vigilant to ensure justice and due process to take its course. But we must be clear: the arrest and liability of former Speaker Martin Romualdez and former House Appropriations Committee Chair Zaldy Co cannot be the end of the story. To treat them as the sole architects of the alleged anomalies is a convenient fiction that shields the real mastermind — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Numerous testimonies already implicate not just the Speaker and the House leadership, but also the President and his key officials in the web of corruption, misuse of funds, and outright plunder under the guise of “budget modernization.” It is absurd to believe that Martin Romualdez — a cousin and trusted ally of the President — acted alone or without the knowledge, blessing, and approval of Malacañang. No Speaker of the House moves an inch without the marching orders of the sitting President, especially one who controls the supermajority.

What we are witnessing is a classic sacrificial offering: throw a few high-profile names to the wolves, to create public perception that justice is being served, while the President and his inner circle remain untouched. This is the same script we have seen before — when subordinates are made to fall, but the chief architect escapes due to carefully negotiated “bail” arrangements and court delays.

Let justice take its course, but let it be impartial and complete. It must not stop at Martin Romualdez or Zaldy Co. It must climb higher — to the President himself and every official who signed, approved, and benefited from the anomalies. The people demand accountability, not scapegoats. We will not allow the administration to turn the halls of justice into a stage for a political survival play. # # #

07/09/2026

SCAMMER ALERT:

Nabubunyag ngayong araw, mula sa testimonya ni Marizza Grande ng Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), ang mahigit 1,685 pangalan na ginamit ng Office of the Vice President at Department of Education na lumalabas na walang rekord, menor de edad, o patay na, batay sa talaan ng PSA.

Hindi maitatago sa anumang pakulo ni Sara Duterte ang lantarang kasinungalingan upang pagtakpan ang kanyang korapsyon sa paggamit ng confidential funds mula sa pondo ng bayan.

03/09/2026

Imagine needing your National ID just to post a meme, message your friends, join a group chat, follow a page, or speak your mind online.

That is what the Marcos administration is now pushing for.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is urging Meta to require users in the Philippines to verify their social media accounts using the National ID. This is social media registration without any law. The government says this will help address online abuse, protect children, and make users more accountable. But making every Filipino identify themselves to the government before they can use social media is not the answer to online safety.

We all want safer online spaces, especially for children and young people. We want scammers, predators, harassers, and people who make credible threats to be held accountable. But why should everyone have to give up their privacy just because some people commit crimes online?

For many young Filipinos, social media is not just for selfies, memes, and TikToks. It is where we learn about issues, organize communities, discuss politics, support causes, expose wrongdoing, and speak out against people in power.

Sometimes, people need to speak without immediately attaching their real-world identity to what they say.
A student calling out abuse in their school.
A worker speaking about exploitation.
A whistleblower exposing corruption.
A young person asking for help.
An activist criticizing the government.

Child safety is not an excuse for mass surveillance. Protecting children online is important. But there are better ways to do it: stronger action against online exploitation, better content moderation, faster investigation of credible threats, stronger protections for minors, and holding Big Tech accountable for how its platforms are designed and operated. We should go after criminals and abusive platforms, not turn every Filipino into a potential suspect.

Anonymity does not automatically mean criminality. In fact, anonymity can protect people who have less power from those who have more. In a country with a history of red-tagging, surveillance, harassment, and attacks against activists and government critics, we have every reason to be cautious about creating systems that make it easier to connect people's online identities to their real-world identities.

This is a cybersecurity issue. The National ID contains sensitive personal information. Connecting government identity systems with social media creates another massive digital infrastructure containing information about millions of Filipinos. Even if the government says it will not directly access everything stored in the National ID database, we still need to ask: Who controls the system? Who can access the information? How is it secured? How long is it kept? What happens if it is breached? And what stops this system from being used for purposes beyond what was originally promised? These aren't hypothetical questions. Every database can be breached. Every system can be abused. We have seen this time and time again, government agencies being hacked, our data being exposed.

The government is also overlooking a basic problem: not every Filipino has a National ID yet. What happens to Filipinos who have not yet been registered? What about people in remote communities, those who have difficulty accessing registration centers, or those who have registered but are still waiting for their ID? Do they simply lose access to social media? Making a National ID a prerequisite for using social media risks creating a new form of digital disenfranchisement. Social media is now an important space for communication, education, organizing, accessing information, and participating in public discussions. People should not be excluded from these spaces because they have not yet obtained a government-issued ID. The right to participate online should not depend on whether the government has already issued you an ID.

The government should be building a safer internet without building a surveillance infrastructure that can be used against everyone. We should not have to choose between safety and freedom. We should have both.

Makabayan calls on DICT and the Marcos administration to abandon mandatory National ID verification for social media accounts. Keep the government's hands off our digital identities. Privacy is a right. Speaking anonymously is not a crime. Social media should not require a government ID.

01/09/2026

01/09/2026

PRESS RELEASE

Former Rep. France L. Castro
ACT Teachers Partylist
September 1, 2026

11 Years After Lianga Massacre: Justice Remains Elusive for Lumad, Education Advocates

On the 11th anniversary of the Lianga Massacre, former ACT Teachers Representative France Castro underscored that the state violence which killed Emerito Samarca, Dionel Campos, and Datu Juvello Sinzo on September 1, 2015, has not ceased but has evolved into a systemic policy of repression against the Lumad and their advocates.

“The cry to was born from the blood spilled in Lianga. But instead of heeding this call, the state intensified its campaign of terror,” said Castro. “The massacre was not an isolated incident. It was a precursor to the wholesale attacks on Lumad schools, the forced displacement of communities, the killings of youth like Obello Bay-ao, and the judicial persecution of anyone who stands in solidarity with them.”

Castro, who was herself unjustly convicted of trumped up charges as one of the “Talaingod 13” for participating in a humanitarian mission to aid displaced Lumad teachers and students, highlighted how repression spans generations. “Dionel Campos was murdered for defending his ancestral domain. Today, his daughter Michelle remains in jail on fabricated charges. This is the brutal reality: they kill the parents and imprison the children to crush the spirit of an entire people.”

She condemned the continued militarization and criminalization of the struggle for indigenous rights and self-determination, linking it to the defense of ancestral lands against corporate and destructive projects. “The attack on Lumad schools is an attack on the right to self-determination, culture, and a nationalist, scientific education. They close down schools, kill teachers, and arrest defenders because an educated, organized Lumad community is the biggest obstacle to the plunder of their resources through instruments such Marcos EO 122 on mining and critical minerals.”

“We remember Tatay Emok, Dionel, and Datu Bello not just as victims, but as educators and leaders whose legacy of resistance lives on,” Castro stated. “On this day, we renew our vow to continue their fight. The demand for justice for the Lianga Massacre is inseparable from the demand to free Michelle Campos, to stop the killings, and to end the fascist attacks on the Filipino people.” # # #

01/09/2026

You've heard of the hashtag , but do you know where it actually came from?

Eleven years ago today, on September 1, 2015, three Lumad leaders were killed in Lianga, Surigao del Sur:

Emerito “Tatay Emok” Samarca.
Dionel Campos.
Datu Juvello “Bello” Sinzo.

Their killings became known as the Lianga Massacre. It was one of the events that gave birth to a nationwide call that many of us still hear today: .

But the killings did not stop with Lianga. In the years that followed came the Lake Sebu killings, the 2nd Lianga Massacre, the New Bataan 5, and the killings of Lumad youth like Obello Bay-ao, Kuni Cuba, and Elioterio Ugking. Communities were militarized and displaced. Lumad schools were attacked and forcibly closed. Indigenous leaders, teachers, students, and community defenders were red-tagged, harassed, arrested, and killed.

When people stood with them, they too became targets. The Talaingod 13, including former Makabayan representatives Satur Ocampo and Teacher France Castro, were convicted after joining a humanitarian mission to help Lumad students and teachers who had been forced from their community. The repression continues across generations. Dionel Campos was killed in Lianga in 2015. His daughter, Michelle Campos, remains imprisoned today, facing multiple charges that human rights organizations have described as trumped-up.

This is why September 1 is more than a date to remember. It is a reminder of where the call to came from. It came from communities who refused to surrender their ancestral lands. It came from Lumad youth who fought for the right to learn in their own communities. It came from teachers who chose to serve communities that had long been neglected. It came from families who demanded justice for their loved ones. And it came from thousands of people who refused to let these killings be forgotten.

Eleven years after Lianga, the struggle continues.

Today, we remember Samarca, Campos, and Sinzo not only as victims, but as people who stood with their communities and fought for their rights. We remember the Lumad communities who continue to defend their ancestral lands, culture, education, and self-determination. And we remember that is not just a slogan. It is a call born from a history of resistance, solidarity, and the continuing demand for justice.

Justice for the Lianga Massacre victims!
Free Michelle Campos and all Indigenous Peoples’ rights defenders!
Stop the killings, militarization, and criminalization of Lumad communities!
Hold perpetrators of state violence accountable!

Eleven years after Lianga: we remember. We resist. We continue the struggle.

31/08/2026

ALERT: MAKABAYAN VICE PRESIDENT FOR VISAYAS JOHN RUIZ REPORTEDLY ARRESTED BY CIDG

Following today’s National Heroes Day protest action, Makabayan Vice President for Visayas John Ruiz was arrested by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Cebu City.

For years, John Ruiz has faced various forms of harassment and attacks from the State. In 2025, amid the widespread protests against corruption, Ruiz, along with other Cebu mass leaders, was falsely charged with violating Batas Pambansa Blg. 880 (BP 880) over an anti-corruption protest held outside DPWH Cebu City District Engineering Office. In 2023, Ruiz was also falsely charged of frustrated murder and tagged as ‘NPA’ in connection with an alledged armed encounter in Toboso, Negros Occidental in April 2023.

It is clear, that these attacks are part of broader attacks against progressive groups. For years, Ruiz has stood alongside the people of Central Visayas in advancing their democratic rights and fighting for higher wages, against privatization of public markets, housing, and other basic social needs. Likewise, In the 2021 elections, Ruiz also served as the 4th nominee of Bayan Muna Party-list.

Makabayan calls for the immediate release of John Ruiz. We condemn the series of state-sponsored attacks and harassment on Visayas activists, and call on the government to put an end to weaponization of the law against its critics.

30/08/2026

26/08/2026

EO 122: A Mindanao-Sized Mining Frontier for the US Pax Silica

Nine million hectares.

That is roughly the size of Mindanao. For the Marcos administration, it represents the potential of the Philippines’ critical-minerals industry. But for millions of Filipinos, these are not simply mineral deposits waiting to be extracted. They are farms, forests, watersheds, ancestral territories, fishing grounds, homes, and livelihoods. So the question is not simply how much mineral wealth the Philippines can extract. It is who will control it, who will profit from it, and who will pay the price.

Marcos Jr signed EO 122 last August 18, 2026 focused on developing the Philippine’s critical minerals industry. What is not stated in the news is that the latest EO comes in the wake of the US-Philippines Critical Minerals Memorandum of Understanding which was signed on February 6 this year. The MOU seeks to support stable and resilient supply and value chains in critical minerals and rare earths particularly for the needs of the US. EO 122 is the domestic operationalization of the MOU and forms part of the basis for the Pax Silica initiative.

Nine million hectares is a massive mining frontier. The scale alone should concern us. Expanding mineral exploration and opening more areas to mining means putting more communities, agricultural lands, forests, watersheds, and coastal ecosystems in the path of extraction. The Philippines already faces food insecurity, landlessness, environmental destruction, and rural poverty. Turning more land and water over to mining can intensify competition for resources and threaten the livelihoods of communities that depend on them. Our farms cannot become collateral damage in a race for mineral investments.

The threat is even more serious for Indigenous Peoples and national minorities whose ancestral territories overlap with areas of mineral potential. The government can invoke free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), but FPIC cannot simply be a stamp of approval for mining projects. For years, communities have raised concerns about consultations being limited to selected individuals, pressure being exerted on communities to accept projects, and dissenting voices being subjected to intimidation and red-tagging. Consent is not genuine when people are pressured, divided, excluded, militarized and threatened for opposing a project. Ancestral communities must have the genuine power to determine what happens to their land.

Marcos Jr’s EO 122 seeks to streamline mining applications through a virtual one-stop shop and simultaneous processing of permits and regulatory clearances. The push to accelerate mining approvals treats regulatory processes as obstacles to investment, but environmental safeguards, scientific scrutiny, and community participation are not red tape. They are the mechanisms that allow people to question projects before irreversible damage is done. A faster permit is not progress if it means affected communities have less time and power to challenge a project.

The Marcos administration presents critical minerals as essential to renewable energy, batteries, electric vehicles, digital infrastructure, and the global clean-energy transition. But calling minerals “critical” does not make their extraction automatically just or sustainable. A “green economy” cannot be built by destroying forests, threatening watersheds, displacing Indigenous communities, undermining agriculture, and sacrificing poor communities. If the clean-energy transition simply shifts the environmental costs of extraction onto communities in the underdeveloped countries, then we must ask: Green for whom? Development for whom? The climate crisis must not become a blank check for corporations to extract more from our country. Industrialization for whom?

The government says critical minerals can help the Philippines industrialize by developing processing and downstream industries. But processing our minerals is not enough. Without strong requirements for Filipino ownership, technology transfer, domestic manufacturing, and technological development, we risk remaining what we have long been: a supplier of raw materials for industries and supply chains controlled by foreign monopoly capitalists. That is not genuine national industrialization. It is extractive development with a new label. The Philippines needs industries that create products, technologies, and decent jobs, not industries that dig up and ship out our natural wealth.

The push to privatize government-owned mining assets raises another fundamental question - if these minerals are supposedly critical to our national development, why should control over them be handed to private corporations? Strategic natural resources should serve the Filipino people, not become another source of wealth for corporations and political elites while communities bear the environmental and social costs. We need transparency over who controls these resources, who profits from them, and what the Filipino people actually gain.

EO 122, the US-Philippines MOU on critical minerals and the Pax Silica initiative all point to a grossly lopsided “development” model that will primarily benefit the US while leaving Filipinos with the the economic and social costs. Our minerals extracted, processed, then fed into the Pax Silica manufacturing hub to ensure that the US supply chain keeps running. All these, at the expense of sovereignty, the environment, and the domestic economy.

The Philippines needs national industrialization. We need domestic manufacturing. We need Filipino science and technology. We need decent jobs. We need renewable energy. Development should strengthen the productive capacity of the Filipino people, not make our country more attractive as a source of cheap raw materials for foreign supply chains. Our natural resources should serve Philippine agriculture, industry, workers, and communities.

Our farms are not mining sites.
Our mountains are not commodities.
Our ancestral domains are not empty spaces.
Our rivers are not expendable.
And our people will not be sacrificed for corporate profit.

Nine million hectares may be a mining opportunity to the Marcos administration and foreign investors, but for the Filipino people, it is a question of what kind of country we are building and leaving behind. We reject a development model that enriches a few while displacing communities, destroying ecosystems, and exporting our natural wealth.

No to a Mindanao-sized mining frontier.
Defend our land. Protect our communities. Uphold national sovereignty.
Fight for genuine national industrialization that serves the Filipino people, not foreign and corporate profit.
Junk EO 122 and the US-Philippines Critical Minerals Framework!
No to Pax Silica