Young Filipinos are being called into the streets on July 27, when Kabataan Party-list Rep. Atty. Renee Co says they should gather for the “SONA ng Bayan,” a counter-assembly timed against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s second-to-last State of the Nation Address.
Co framed the call as part of a wider push for collective participation, arguing that organized public pressure — not individual grievance — is what produces genuine reform.
The appeal came Thursday during a Manila press briefing hosted by Youth Rage Against Corruption, where the lawmaker measured the administration’s anti-graft record against a challenge Marcos issued twelve months ago to officials involved in corruption.
“It’s been a year since President Marcos said, ‘You should be ashamed,’ but has anyone been ashamed? Taxes continue to be levied but services are not seen to improve. Nothing has changed because the big fish are still swimming in the money they stole from us,” she said in Filipino.
Persistent graft and unresolved political turmoil, she said, are taking a toll on the country. Beyond the absence of consequences for officials, Co pointed to infighting among those in power as a drain on attention that should be directed at securing prospects for younger Filipinos.
“This regime continues to spend the people’s money on the oppression and sale of the country to foreigners. The youth are of no use to this administration because the economic and educational crisis continues to worsen,” she said.
The impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte drew separate criticism, with Co objecting to what she described as stalling by the vice president’s lawyers while maintaining that the process itself still holds promise.
“Evidence against him is gradually being laid out, while her legal team continues the theatrics, derailment tactics, and delaying maneuvers, he keeps evading accountability,” she said.
By Co’s assessment, the deepening crisis in the economy and in education has left young people without meaningful standing in the administration’s agenda.
