The runners are male, and traditionally run completely naked in public places, with their genitals fully visible, on a designated route.

The event was first organized in 1977 at the University of the Philippines Diliman to promote Hubad na Bayani (Tagalog for Naked Hero), a film.

It draws its name from the Oblation, a statue of a nude man located in every University of the Philippines campus, which symbolizes "a selfless offering of one's self to the country."

Originally completely nude, a fig leaf was added to cover its genitals during UP President Jorge Bocobo [tl]'s term (1934–1939).

According to a 2011 article of the paper, the first Oblation Run was done by Rolly Abad himself to protest the Ferdinand Marcos's banning of Hubad na Bayani, a play detailing human rights violations during his martial law regime.

[11] Meanwhile, the Philippine Daily Inquirer notes an APO member, Menggie Cobarrubias, saying "We [I and four others] started it as a prank when the Marcos dictatorship did not allow the showing of the play, Hubad na Bayani."

According to Oliver Teves who wrote the article, the run started as a stunt to promote Hubad na Bayani, a film that depicted oppressed plantation workers.

[24] During the December 2005 Oblation Run at UP Diliman, two unidentified naked women, according to Philstar, Koreans, were seen tailing 30 members who were part of the event.

But the event [Oblation Run] was supposed to be ours.To celebrate the University of the Philippines centennial, 100 APO members ran half a mile around the Diliman campus on June 18, 2008.

We never allow our applicants to join [the Oblation Run].As a sign of protest, it has called attention to several national issues including appeals for the ouster of former President Joseph Estrada,[2] justice for the victims of the Maguindanao massacre[28] and the 2010 Philippine Bar exam bombing.

On March 2009, the Oblation Run was criticized by Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., a Philippine senator, calling it a "blatant display of male genitals" and a "wanton disregard of the rules of decent society."

[1][50] He sought "to sanction the parties responsible, including the university authorities, for failure to exercise their bounden duty to see it that the laws and rules of this country prevail.

In 2010, Salvador Curutchet of the Institute of the Incarnate Word banned De La Salle Araneta University students from participating in the run.

Two years prior to banning it in 2010, the APO chapter of De La Salle held the Oblation Run after obtaining a permit from the city government of Malabon.

[56] Similarly, there used to be an Oblation Run conducted in Taft Avenue, Manila in support of the APO members taking the bar examinations.

However, it has been of prohibited since 2008 by the city government of Manila due to complaints from examinees and their guests regarding "the unnecessary noise and obscenity of the said oblation run.