From Manila to Belém, Filipinos join global day of action for climate justice: Climate action, not corruption! Declare national climate emergency now!

Quezon City, Philippines — Thousands of climate advocates marched through the streets to decry the domination of a rotten system that allows its people to suffer the harshest impacts of the climate crisis. Dubbed as the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice, people rally on the streets in time for the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

In 2025, as world leaders gather in the comfortable air-conditioned halls of Belém, Brazil for COP30, communities across the globe take to the streets bearing a united call to address the worsening climate crisis and drive fundamental systemic change. In the Philippines, the protest was led by the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), together with the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), and various organizations representing women, fisherfolk and farmers, the church, human rights groups, and other formations and sectors.

The Global South continues to experience stronger typhoons, record-breaking heatwaves, and rising sea levels, which tear lives apart, yet the same system, fueled by greed and inequality, remains firmly in place. In the Philippines, provinces like Cebu and Catanduanes are still recovering from the impact of Typhoon Tino and Typhoon Uwan. 

“A country like ours bears the most of the impacts of the climate crisis. While our energy industry remains heavily reliant on coal, the government continues to ignore calls for a genuine energy transition mechanism. Still, it provides a path for false solutions to flourish further. Just earlier this year, Marcos signed a law to boost the natural gas industry. These run counter to the real solutions we are demanding. Communities are losing lives, and their livelihoods are being dismantled. We don’t want any more detours,” said Ian Rivera, national coordinator of PMCJ.

For decades, world leaders have chosen to protect polluters instead of people, and fossil fuel companies continue to profit from destruction.

“We already know that the USD 300 billion climate finance target agreed at COP29 is a very bad deal, falling short of what climate reparations should be. Even the underfunded and operationalized Loss and Damage Fund proves this gap: a USD 250 million call for proposals and the lengthy process are meaningless when one super typhoon in the Philippines causes more damage and cannot be accessed in real time for emergencies. For us to recover from the impacts of a crisis we did not cause,  we need financing in trillions — one that must be scale-sufficient, accessible, and governed by justice. COP30 will be a test of whether world leaders will finally deliver this level of ambition and meet the real demands of climate justice,” said Ellenor Bartolome, senior executive officer on policy, campaigns, and communications of PMCJ.

The Philippines is drowning not just in flood waters but also in debt as more severe typhoons and earthquakes hit the country. The number of deaths and destruction is being treated as mere statistics, more than a consequence of the years of negligence of science and the people’s just demands. At the forefront of the fight are the communities that endure the disasters they experience almost every year.

“We are brought to believe that we are a resilient country that stands up every time a major disaster hits the country. However, we are in a state of emergency where resiliency is more of a setback than a positive trait. Supertyphoons have been devastating our communities for years, and yet every time a new one comes, thousands of lives and billions of pesos worth of properties are lost. We can’t be ready with a rigged and corrupt system; there is no other way but to change it,” said Laica Rayel, food, land, water, and climate campaign head of PMCJ.

On this day of global action, we must recognize that the climate crisis is now an existential threat and a current reality. From our streets to Belém, people are calling for a rapid and just phaseout of fossil fuels, for climate and just transition that prioritizes vulnerable communities, for the end of the elite and corporate capture of climate policy, and for the upholding and protection of human rights. ###