Progressive groups stormed Luneta in a mass action to denounce what they called massive corruption in flood control and other government infrastructure projects. They condemned the diversion of billions of pesos to anomalous contracts and kickbacks, stressing that such public funds could have been channeled instead to essential social services. They argued that the money pocketed on corruption could have strengthened the country’s ailing public hospitals, financed the construction of much-needed classrooms, and provided long-overdue salary increases for workers.

"It's time to make militant resistance the defining characteristic of the youth again."