The Coming Together of a People: Popular Reaction to Jun Lozada's Message

There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief,

Theres too much confusion, I cant get no relief.

Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,

None of them along the line know what any of it is worth.

No reason to get excited, the thief, he kindly spoke,

There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.

But you and i, weve been through that, and this is not our fate,

So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late.

- Bob Dylan, All Along the Watchtower

It all started with the Truth Masses for the entire Lenten Season. Jun Lozada touched a chord in the people that heard his impromptu dialogues. The call for change starting from every individual was catharsis for a public hungry for social justice and emancipation from poverty.

In just more than a month, not even mentioning the presence and influence of established civil society groups like the Black and White Movement and organized activist offshoots like the Youth Act Now, professionals and students began organizing themselves into Truth, Accountability and Reform groups. 

These are purely spontaneous organizations that has sprouted all over the country. Without backing and support from politicians, they have managed to organize from the grassroots and come together in search for common grounds and modes of communal action.

Perhaps it is their hunger for social liberation and their spirit to find hope for renewal that has prompted them to band together for a common cause.

Mostly guided by interfaith forums, they have vouched to light their own "truths" with the goal of merging in one shining light of hope and transformation for the whole country.

The emergence of this new kind of movement is an unparalleled socio-political phenomenon in the country. For the first time, these groups are a combination of social activism and spiritual quest. This kind of movement was attempted in EDSA 1 and 2 but did not evolve further.  The presence of President Cory Aquino is proof that the aspirations of EDSA 1 did not die but merely incubated itself in a people that has now decided to face its mistakes and fears. Jun Lozada provided the catalyst for the Philippine society to transfom itself to the next level. Ninoy Aquino and President Cory Aquino started it, now Jun Lozada is carrying and hoisting the banner that the Filipinos' finest hour is at hand.