Protesters heckle the Philippine president’s convoy over soaring oil prices, a plunging peso, and alleged neglect of overseas Filipinos trapped in the war zone.
NEW YORK – Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. faced a fiery reception in New York on Wednesday as Filipino-American activists confronted his motorcade, demanding he return home to address the worsening economic and humanitarian fallout from the expanding Middle East conflict.
The protest, led by coalitions Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-USA and Malaya (Freedom) USA, occurred as Marcos’s convoy was stuck in traffic en route to the 70th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
Chanting “Shame on you!” and “Don’t you have shame?”, the activists pressed against the blacked-out windows of the vehicles they believed were carrying the president and his delegation.
“There are 2.4 million Filipinos in the Middle East (amid the ongoing war), but you are here inside your Mercedes Benzes,” the demonstrators shouted, criticizing the president’s decision to attend the UN gathering as the crisis deepens at home and abroad.
Economic Woes Mount Back Home
Marcos flew to New York on a business jet shortly after ordering austerity measures across the Philippine bureaucracy. The directive was framed as a response to the severe economic shocks triggered by the US-Israel-Iran conflict.
However, since his departure, the domestic situation has deteriorated sharply. The Philippines peso has plunged to an all-time low against the US dollar. Concurrently, the Energy Regulatory Commission approved a massive electricity rate hike, and oil companies have implemented the first of what experts predict will be a series of record-high fuel price increases.
The activists directly linked these crises to the president’s absence. “Mary Ann de Vera has died. But where are you? Here, staying in US$17,000 per night hotel rooms!” they shouted, referencing the Filipino caregiver killed by an Iranian missile in the opening hours of the war.
‘Trafficking and Selling Out’ Women
The groups also challenged Marcos’s moral authority to speak on women’s issues at the UN forum. In a statement released following the protest, they accused his administration of forcing “Filipina women in the thousands to leave their families and work abroad in dangerous conditions” due to a lack of local opportunities.
They argued that his “corrupt regime traffics and sells out working Filipina women” rather than protecting them.
Times Square Rally and Broader Grievances
The motorcade confrontation followed a separate rally at New York’s Times Square, where activists denounced Marcos’s foreign policy, specifically the increased US military presence in the Philippines. They accused him of “selling out” national sovereignty and failing to protect overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) trapped in the Middle East war zone.
This marks the second protest against Marcos during his New York visit. Earlier in the week, on March 5, the same coalitions demonstrated outside the Asia Society.
As of press time, Malacañang has not issued a response to the protesters’ specific allegations regarding hotel costs or the accusations of neglect.
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