Political analysts said Sunday’s modest crowds reflected a combination of fatigue and disillusionment among activists in the Philippines. They warned that dwindling public mobilisation could ease pressure on President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s administration to pursue tougher action against lawmakers and contractors implicated in the multibillion-peso controversy.
Police estimated that about 90,000 people joined protests nationwide, with some 16,000 attending two main rallies in Metro Manila at Luneta Park and the EDSA People Power Monument in Quezon City. Both gatherings drew thinner crowds than the last major wave of demonstrations on September 21, however.
In Quezon City, roughly 7,000 people turned up on Sunday, far fewer than the 60,000 who joined the September rally. At Luneta Park, the Manila city government put the crowd at around 3,000, compared with nearly 50,000 two months ago, though organisers insisted some 20,000 had “come and gone” throughout the day.
Since protests first broke out in September, eight officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways have been arrested over a 289-billion-peso (US$4.9 billion) irregular flood control project in Oriental Mindoro, signalling a more assertive phase in Marcos’ crackdown on the scandal.
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