July 4, 2024. As citizens of the United States of America (USA), goes on holiday to commemorate their independence day as a nation, it the Philippines; a former colony of the USA, we commemorate July 4 as Republic Day, a rather ambiguous holiday that used to be the commemoration of the Philippine-USA friendship day.

M.A.D. (Mamamayan Ayaw sa Digmaan or Citizens Against War), a new movement that is seemingly an anti-war movement by its name came together today in front of Liwasang Andres Bonifacio in the City of Manila to protest what they called the failure of the current government to protect the interests of the Filipino people amidst the current heightened tensions in the West Philippine Seas that they fear may bring us to war.

Surprisingly, their name seemed to have taken a transformation overnight. Their call for this mass action carried the name MAD – Mamamayan Ayaw sa Digmaan. But during the rally this morning, they wore t-shirts that said: MARCOS, ALIS DYAN (MAD).

Current PH News Team and Correspondent Rovic Reyes covered this mass action.