18/11/2025
ISKOLAR NG BAYAN, LUMIKHA NG KASAYSAYAN! CONTINUE THE MILITANT STRUGGLE OF THE YOUTH MOVEMENT!
International Studentsโ Day 2025
More than a hundred days have passed since Marcos Jr. promised to hold all corrupt officials and politicians accountable. Yet a hundred days later, the Filipino people have seen no corrupt officials in jail. Even worse, we have witnessed how the state suppresses the democratic rights of progressive students and Filipinos who dare to fight against the system.
The 2026 National Budget is nothing but a corrupt budget, even as Marcos Jr. postures it as a โreform budget.โ Despite DPWHโs long list of scandals, โฑ568 billion remains allocated to the agency, while the Presidential pork, disguised as unprogrammed appropriations, stays at an all-time high of โฑ250 billion. And despite the administrationโs claim that education is a top priority for the next fiscal year, 25 State Universities and Colleges still face budget cuts. In the University of the Philippines alone, we face a budget deficit of โฑ20 billion.
The recent revelations of Zaldy Co have made an open secret explicit: the โฑ100 billion insertions in the 2025 national budget were directly orchestrated by Marcos Jr. himself. This further exposes the rot of the Philippine system, how corruption is deeply embedded and how only a handful of bureaucrat-capitalists benefit from it.
The Marcos Jr. regime and the Duterte factionโs attempts to co-opt pro-people and anti-corruption narratives prove only one thing: we can count on no political force but the Filipino peopleโs collective action. Last September 2025, more than 17,000 students from across the UP System, from Cordillera to Mindanao, walked out of their classrooms to protest corruption across the University and beyond. This wave of youth-led protest continued up to International Studentsโ Day, proving once again that the youth will always be at the forefront of the struggle against societal injustices.
This movement posed a serious threat to the ruling blocโs already fragile hold on power. And the state responded in the only way it knows how: with threats, harassment, and intimidation. From subpoenaed student leaders to the mass arrest of youth fighting corruption, the message is clear. The state fears students and youth who leave their classrooms to study in the streets, side by side with the broader Filipino people.
This yearโs International Studentsโ Day, like every year, is not just a celebration. It is a show of resistance and collective strength. For it is only through militant struggle that the best of the youth emerges.
We now pose this challenge to the youth and to all 65,000+ Iskolars ng Bayan: Continue to resist corruption and the rotten system! Continue to struggle alongside the masses, for while the youth stand at the forefront of mobilizations, genuine change can only be won when we fight with the people.
