Thirty six persons were arrested for disrupting protests over corruption, specifically, the billions of pesos allegedly lost in flood control projects, on Sunday, authorities said.

Seventeen were nabbed in Ayala Bridge and 19 in Mendiola. Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla told dzBB some of 19 were ''aged 15 to 17 years old.''

“Ang initial information namin, ang plano nila was to breach the perimeter and burn down the [Malacanan] palace,” Remulla told ABS-CBN.

Maj. Hazel Asilo, spokesperson of the National Capital Region Police Office, said those who were arrested wore black masks and black shirts. She added they do not know which group they belong.

These incidents took place in the afternoon where people hurled rocks and even Molotov cocktails as they called for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr to step down.

Palace Press Officer and Undersecretary Claire Castro told a TV interview the Palace is secure but refused to say where is the president who, she added is monitoring the situation.

'''I believe some people want to overthrow the government,'' said Castro on Bilyonario News Channel.

The protestors set on fire the tires of a trailer truck and a motorcycle near the Ayala Bridge. In Mendiola, demonstrators threw rocks against the police,tearing their first line of defense and damaging a backhoe, which was parked in the area.

In the morning, police said 49,000 persons staged a rally at Luneta where protesters called for swift action against lawmakers, public works officials and others who were found to be gotten kickbacks from flood control controls, some of which were never built.

In the afternoon, one of the organizers at the rally at Edsa Shrine said almost 50,000 took part in the protest which ended at 630 pm.

Baguio City Benjamin Magalong, the adviser of the independent commission formed by Marcos to investigate the flood control scam, visited the Edsa Shrine in the afternoon.

Actors, beauty queens and other personalities joined opposition lawmakers in calling for firmer government action to go after corrupt officials.

Two senators reportedly sought millions of pesos in kickbacks according to a former public works and highways official in a congressional hearing.

The protest is considered one of the biggest in the Marcos administration. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr cancelled his trip to the United Nations this week to monitor the situation along with keeping tabs of a super typhoon that may make landfall in extreme northern Philippines.

Marcos created an independent commission to investigate the flood control projects but the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee is expected to continue its own probe next week. DMS