01/06/2026
PRIDE IN MOTION: Muntinlupa Breaks Ground with Historic Cross-Barangay Pride March
MUNTINLUPA CITY — As the calendar turns to June 1, a historic wave of color, solidarity, and empowerment is set to sweep across Muntinlupa City. This year’s Pride Month marks a defining milestone for the local LGBTQI+ movement—driven by grassroots leadership, youth empowerment, and a vision that extends far beyond city boundaries.
Uniting Nine Barangays: The Muntinlupa Rainbow Community
At the heart of this landmark celebration is the Muntinlupa Rainbow Community, an organization established in response to the growing need for coordinated, citywide LGBTQI+ representation. Founded and convened by media practitioner and community advocate Harold C. de Mesa, the organization carries a bold yet essential mission: to unite LGBTQI+ individuals, organizations, and communities across all nine barangays of Muntinlupa City.
For years, LGBTQI+ advocacy efforts existed in independent pockets throughout the city. Today, the Muntinlupa Rainbow Community serves as a unifying platform—bridging communities from Tunasan to Sucat and fostering collective action among the city’s diverse q***r sectors.
"True progress happens when we stop standing in isolation and start moving as one," says founder Harold de Mesa. "The Muntinlupa Rainbow Community exists to ensure that no q***r individual in any barangay feels invisible or left behind. We are building a unified space where our voices can collectively resonate throughout the entire city."
The most visible expression of this emerging unity will culminate in a groundbreaking citywide event: the first-ever joint Pride march spanning all nine barangays. Scheduled for June 28, 2026 — the final Sunday of Pride Month — participants, advocates, and allies will march from Tunasan to Sucat. More than a celebration, the event stands as a powerful declaration of visibility, solidarity, and the fundamental right to live authentically.
The Main Event: Dubbed “Baybayin ng mga Babaylan sa Muntinlupa”
Capturing the movement’s cultural depth, historical resonance, and unapologetically q***r spirit, the main event is dubbed “Baybayin ng mga Babaylan sa Muntinlupa.”
The phrase carries a deliberate and powerful double meaning rooted in the Filipino language.
The first meaning derives from baybáyin (noun), referring to the shoreline, coast, or bay area—an evocative nod to Muntinlupa’s geographical landscape and to the flowing, expansive character of the Pride movement itself.
The second meaning emerges through baybayín (verb), which means “to walk through,” “to traverse,” “to journey along,” or “to follow a path.” In this sense, the event becomes not merely a destination, but an act of movement—a collective crossing of communities, histories, identities, and shared struggles.
Thus, “Baybayin ng mga Babaylan sa Muntinlupa” simultaneously evokes the shoreline of Muntinlupa’s Babaylans and the act of traversing Muntinlupa alongside its Babaylans.
By invoking the Babaylan—pre-colonial spiritual leaders, healers, and sacred cultural figures who often transcended rigid gender binaries—the march frames Pride not simply as a contemporary celebration, but as a reconnection to indigenous traditions that recognized fluidity, leadership, and gender diversity.
Journeying from Tunasan to Sucat, participants do not merely pass through the city; they baybayín it. They walk its length, reclaim its spaces, and transform its streets into living pathways of remembrance, visibility, healing, and resistance.
In this way, the event becomes more than a march. It becomes a symbolic pilgrimage—an unfolding movement of q***r solidarity flowing across the baybáyin of Muntinlupa.
Youth at the Forefront: Sangre Youth Society’s Call to Action
Sustaining this momentum is the dynamic leadership of Muntinlupa’s youth advocates. The Sangre Youth Society, a progressive youth-led organization rooted in community development and social inclusion, has officially joined forces with the Muntinlupa Rainbow Community in championing this historic initiative.
The Sangre Youth Society’s core mission is to cultivate safe, inclusive, and progressive spaces where young people—regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, or social background—can thrive, strengthen leadership capacities, and access equitable opportunities.
Its guiding vision, embodied in the principle “Unity in Pride, Empowered in Change,” seeks to nurture a generation of active citizens who do not merely witness history but actively shape it.
Sangre’s advocacy extends beyond traditional notions of Pride. The organization believes that LGBTQI+ empowerment is not limited to local representation alone; rather, it is about inspiring individuals to become agents of broader social transformation.
By encouraging q***r communities to step forward, speak out, and claim their rightful spaces, Sangre aims to ignite change that reverberates from the neighborhoods of Muntinlupa to the national stage.
As Pride Month unfolds, Muntinlupa’s LGBTQI+ movement demonstrates that unity is more than a slogan—it is a movement in motion. Through intergenerational leadership, grassroots organizing, and collective courage, the city is charting a new chapter in q***r visibility, representation, and community empowerment.
