With the violent dispersal and detention of protesters that transpired in the recent September 21 mobilizations, we, the Union of Journalists of the Philippines – UP, vehemently condemn the police’s excessive use of force towards the Filipino people who were exercising their right to protest.

On the 53rd anniversary of Martial Law, the nation staged a series of protests against government corruption that mirrored the plunder of the Marcos Sr. regime.

The masses were rightfully mad at the outright betrayal. Violent clashes took place around Ayala Bridge, Mendiola and other nearby places, where groups of protesters expressed their anger through vandalism, burning trucks and throwing rocks. The police retaliated by firing water cannons, throwing tear gas canisters and other violent means of dispersal that put even uninvolved civilians in danger.

As of yesterday, a total of 216 protesters were arrested by the police, 89 of whom are minors, with a 12-year-old boy as the youngest. Among the detained is UP College of Arts and Letters student Mattheo Wovi Villanueva, who served as a security officer and paralegal during the mobilization.

Multiple videos have surfaced exposing the brutality of the dispersals — police beating and violently dragging protesters while arresting them, with one video showing a participant’s head hitting the cement.

Despite clear evidence, the Philippine National Police denied accounts of excessive force and instead framed the violence as the fault of protesters.

But this violence is not isolated. The police’s use of force to intimidate and harm is sanctioned by the orders of the fascist Duterte and Marcos Jr. administrations. The drug war’s extrajudicial killings alone reached up to 30,000 under Duterte and 841 under Marcos Jr. as of January 2025. These numbers do not yet include the murder of activists and journalists at the hands of state forces.

Their choice to lie about the violence and frame the narrative in their favor should be a wake-up call that they serve no one but themselves.

We condemn police brutality and demand the release of all detained protesters. We reject the narrative that protests are only legitimate when they are “peaceful.” To fall for the notion that dissent must be free from violence is to surrender to the efforts of the state to discredit and suppress collective action. We cannot dismiss the anger of those born into violence — whose communities have been displaced, whose homes have been demolished and whose lives have been stricken by poverty, hunger and state neglect. It is time to check our own privileges that allow us to not have to resort to turbulent tactics.

It is just and right to call on the police and the Marcos-Duterte administration to truly serve the masses, not corrupt officials they are sworn to protect.

ADDENDUM: As of Sept. 23, a total of 216 individuals have been arrested — 91 of whom are minors, with the youngest only 9 years old — according to the National Union of People’s Lawyers.