ADVOCACY and activist groups staged a protest march in front of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) office at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) complex on Friday, October 16, 2026, denouncing what they described as the institutions’ role in perpetuating economic inequality and climate breakdown in developing countries.
“Through predatory debt, forced austerity, privatization of essential public services, fossil fuel financing, and other neoliberal policies, these institutions weaken Global South economies, deepen inequality, and destroy fragile ecosystems,” Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), told SunStar Philippines.
“The global economic and financial architecture, anchored by the IMF-WB, continues to prioritize corporate profit over human life and planetary survival,” Nacpil added.
The protest coincided with this year’s annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Bangkok, Thailand.
The groups called for a “structural overhaul of international finance and global trade,” demanding immediate and unconditional debt cancellation, climate reparations, an end to forced privatization, democratic United Nations tax governance, and a just energy transition.
The demonstration was also attended by members of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice, Freedom from Debt Coalition, Partido Lakas ng Masa, Oriang Women’s Movement, and Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan. (Ronald Reyes/SunStar Philippines)