09/12/2025
At the present stage, the Filipino people confront a crisis whose roots lie not in the personal failings of officials but in the very structure of our semifeudal, semicolonial society. Corruption is far from being mere isolated excesses of a few "bad apples". It is the inevitable product of bureaucrat capitalism, in which those who hold state power convert public office into private capital. In this system, every sector that depends on public funds—workers, peasants, teachers, students, employees, small professionals, and the wider masses—is injured, deprived, or restrained.
The education sector reveals this clearly. The youth, who should be nurtured by the nation, instead attend schools whose conditions testify to decades of plunder: overcrowded classrooms, unsafe buildings, shortages in textbooks and facilities, and teachers forced to shoulder the gaps. These conditions are the direct consequences of a ruling clique that drains resources meant for the people and diverts them toward patronage, political dominance, and private enrichment. The corruption scandals now surrounding the Marcos administration merely expose what teachers and students have long known, that bureaucrat capitalism is hostile to public education.
Among the broad masses, teachers and education workers stand in the front lines of this struggle. We experience daily how corruption translates into heavier workloads, stagnant wages, and shrinking support for public schools. Yet, precisely because we are positioned close to the youth and the communities, we also form part of the motive force capable of confronting this system.
Our sit-down strike last November 28 was an expression of the growing unity among teachers, students, and citizens. It demonstrated that those who bear the weight of corruption are willing to resist it. This resistance is not directed merely against a few erring individuals—much less only towards small-time contractors, but against the entire mechanism that enables bureaucrat plunder. To describe this people’s movement as disruptive or excessive is to misunderstand its nature. A people deprived of their future have the right—and the duty—to struggle.
In the fight against corruption, we must distinguish our chief enemy from those who may be won over or neutralized. The chief enemy is the center of bureaucrat capitalists and their allies whose interests lie in maintaining the present order. Among local officials, administrators, and sectors affected by corruption, there exist forces who, despite contradictions with us, are also aggrieved by the same system. Where unity is possible, it must be pursued; where isolation of the chief enemy is necessary, it must be firm. Only in this way can the broad front against corruption develop into a movement that genuinely serves the people.
The task before us is clear: expose corruption wherever it occurs; unite all who can be united; and mobilize the strength of the teachers, students, workers, peasants, and communities who constitute the overwhelming majority of the nation. The struggle for genuine change is inseparable from the struggle to transform the semifeudal, semicolonial order that breeds corruption. Without addressing its roots, no amount of reform will suffice.
On this day, we affirm our commitment to serve the people. We call on all educators to deepen their political vigilance, to defend the right of the youth to quality education, and to stand with the broad masses in their fight for accountability, justice, and genuine change. The road ahead demands clarity and resolve, but the strength of the people is decisive.
Corruption steals from the youth; the people’s struggle will reclaim what has been taken.
STATEMENT
International Anti-Corruption Day
9 December 2025
