"From a skyscraper in downtown Manila, a sea of white spreads out below, covering the vast green lawns of Rizal Park and expanding down arterial roads and sidestreets. It is formed of more than half a million people, clad in matching white T-shirts, the slogan transparency for a better democracy emblazoned on their chests. An estimated 650,000 of them have flooded the centre of Manila to protest, amid fury over a spiralling corruption scandal in which billions of dollars in flood mitigation funds have evaporated."
"Organised by the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), a powerful sect in the Philippines, the three-day rally has shut down schools, roads and offices. Many of those protesting have camped out all night on the park's lawns, sleeping in tents or beneath tarpaulins and umbrellas. Families have journeyed from across the country to set up camp, some equipped with portable stoves and rice cookers, others pushing elderly family members in wheelchairs, many of them bearing placards saying expose the deeds."
More than 650,000 people, many wearing matching white T-shirts reading transparency for a better democracy, gathered in central Manila to protest a major corruption scandal over flood mitigation funds. The three-day rally, organised by the Iglesia ni Cristo, closed schools, roads and offices as families camped on Rizal Park lawns with tents, stoves and wheelchairs for elderly relatives. Protesters demanded exposure of corrupt deeds after investigators found hundreds of ghost flood-protection projects and estimates that up to 70% of flood-control funds were lost to corruption. The focus of anger is on company owners, government officials and parliament members accused of pocketing billions.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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