On Sunday November 30, Deutsche Welle reported: “Thousands of people in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, are protesting alleged ‘ghost’ flood-control projects at the center of a multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal. Demonstrators accuse officials of diverting public funds meant to protect communities from deadly floods. Many demand arrests, saying top politicians are escaping scrutiny despite repeated infrastructure failures during recent typhoons.”
The Associated Press adds: “President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been scrambling to quell public outrage over the massive corruption blamed for substandard, defective or non-existent flood control projects across an archipelago long prone to deadly flooding and extreme weather in tropical Asia.”
Here in Ottawa, groups including Anakbayan Ottawa, the Ontario Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (OCHRP), Migrante Ottawa, the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), gathered first adjacent to the US Embassy then in front of the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines to participate in this day of action.
Their outreach highlighted: “As typhoon after typhoon hits the country and flimsy flood control infrastructure fails, as we watch our kababayan [fellow Filipinos] drown while the government officials sit by, in comfort, it is clear that Malacañang [the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the Philippines] is all too happy with letting the average Filipinos bear the full weight of their greed.”
That outreach then noted: “On Bonifacio Day (November 30), a day that celebrates resistance amidst injustice, hundreds of thousands will take to the streets, in the Philippines and abroad, to demand accountability and justice against all those involved in this corruption!”
The flyer that was handed out at today’s protest further asserts: “The Marcoses and Duterte are criminal dynasties.”
It then states: “The Filipino people back home and abroad are demanding accountability as billions of pesos have been stolen and used by politicians for luxury goods, mansions and expensive vacations. We urgently call not just for the resignation and removal of these corrupt politicians, but also to change the corrupt system that allowed these opportunists and bureaucratic capitalists to take power in the first place.”
Third deadliest country for land and environmental defenders
Between 2012 and 2024, the Philippines was the third deadliest country for land and environmental defenders, according to data from Global Witness. They note that 306 defenders were killed in the Philippines during this period, with 413 killed in Brazil and 509 killed in Colombia during these years.
Global Witness has further noted about the situation in the Philippines: “The military has been linked to the highest number of killings and detentions of land and environmental defenders in the last decade… A Global Witness investigation published in December 2024 found that the government’s push to expand critical minerals mining in the country is putting frontline communities, especially Indigenous Peoples, at risk of militarisation and violence.”
Canada and the Philippines
On November 5, 2025, the Canadian government tabled a Notice of Intent to enter into free trade negotiations with the Philippines. Just a few days earlier, on November 2, Canada and the Philippines signed a “Status of Visiting Forces Agreement” to further deepen security cooperation after a closed-door meeting in Manila.
The Government of Canada notes: “It will allow the Canadian Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to work more closely together through participation in joint and multinational operations and exercises in each other’s territories.”
At that time, Canada’s defence minister David McGuinty stated: “Peace is built on rules, not recklessness. …The Philippines has shown true leadership in upholding international law … and for that [it has] Canada’s greatest and deepest respect.”
PBI South East Asia Project
Peace Brigades International continues to be in the process of exploring the formation of a South East Asia Project that would include Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand.
Additional reading: Canada participates in Balikatan exercise despite Philippine military implicated in killings of environmental defenders (PBI-Canada article, April 26, 2025).
Photo of protest in Ottawa, November 30, 2025.
