The fight of the Filipino people is just! The flood of protests will not recede!

The Indigenous Peoples bore witness to the 100,000-strong protest that filled Luneta and Mendiola on September 21, 2025. We were part of this flood of protests, chanting our calls against corruption, impunity, and fascism. September 21, 1972 marked the beginning of brutal fascism against Indigenous Peoples and the extreme plunder of our ancestral lands. From that time until today, Indigenous Peoples across the Philippines have fought back through direct actions, lobbying, and other forms of struggle. But those protests were far from friendly with the state forces—they were militant, agitated, and angry, just like the recent happenings in Mendiola and Ayala.

Katribu Alliance will never condemn the youth for their noble expression of anger at this rotten government. Instead, we condemn the government and its police forces for their brutality against the suffering masses. Despite Jonvic Remulla’s praise of the PNP for their supposed “maximum tolerance,” the reality is otherwise: more than two hundred protesters and bystanders were detained, manhandled, and beaten nearly to death. Teargas was fired into the dense crowd at Mendiola. Police abused and tortured many, including minors.

Once again, the state has shown its incapacity to protect and nurture its own citizens. We assert and reaffirm that the fight of the Filipino people, of all who stood at Luneta and Mendiola, of the Indigenous Peoples and Bangsamoro, is right and just. We demand the immediate release of all detainees. We call on the Filipino people to recognize that this is not the end of the protests, but only the beginning. Let us continue to flood the streets with our protests!

Reference:

Funa-ay Claver

Spokesperson Katribu Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas