Another FQS? I had just turned 16, and was a senior and an activist at the Philippine Science High School. What happened next that afternoon, when both groups of protesters converged at the Senate, would change Philippine political history. Very soon, placards had turned into missiles, and the sound of broken glass punctuated the yelling: soft-drink bottles were flying, too. The effigy was down on the ground, still burning.”The Jan. 26 rally and the trouble that erupted would lead to the Jan. 30-31 demos that would prove even more violent, and what would become the First Quarter Storm or the FQS was born.

Source: Philippine Star January 18, 2026 16:49 UTC