On the Trail of the Yellow Army

Josh


Josh Babasa has managed to convince all the members of his household to vote for Noynoy Aquino in the May elections. His mom, dad, aunt, brother, grandmother, and some of his parents’ friends are now Noynoy converts. He himself, though, cannot vote for Noynoy.

He is 16 years old.

Josh has just finished his junior year in high school, where he is student council president. This summer, he will not be hanging out at the mall or playing video games in Internet cafés like any boy his age would. Instead, he will be volunteering for Yo!Noy or Youth for Noy, a group that encourages the youth to get involved in the elections.

Of course, they promote Noynoy Aquino for president, too.

Tech-savvy individuals as they are, they have latched on to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to amass more members for the Yellow Army, as they have dubbed themselves. They also write blogs to let others know about their experiences as part of the Noynoy camp.

Josh and his friends do traditional campaigning too. “Flyering” is their term for, well, handing out flyers to everyone from MRT passengers to bus barkers. “Stickering” is their word for giving out car stickers to motorists. Sometimes drivers are so eager for stickers that they cause traffic jams. There are “palengke runs” too, where volunteers distribute caps, ballers, and other giveaways to people in wet markets.

Josh recalls vendors telling him they would still vote for Noynoy and vice presidential candidate Mar Roxas even if they weren’t given any merchandise. They also vowed they were “Aquino-Roxas pa rin kahit bayaran ng iba (for Aquino-Roxas even if paid by other candidates).”

So far though, the most memorable Yo!Noy activity Josh has been in was of the flyering sort in Ortigas. After receiving a flyer, a vendor told him, “Sana manalo siya. Sana makuha natin ang pagbabago (I hope Noynoy wins. I hope we finally get the change we’ve been waiting for).”

“It was really heartfelt, really sincere,” says Josh. But he has had his share of frustrations too, being part of the Yellow Army. “When they say, ‘Wala namang alam ‘yan eh (Your candidate is stupid),’ when we hand them flyers. You just have to keep on smiling, respect their opinions.”

This is exactly what they are trained to do, usually at assemblies at the People Power Volunteer Center, also known as “Balay Cubao,” in Quezon City.

Karl



Karl Satinitigan, now a familiar face at Balay Cubao, leads such assemblies. As head of Yo!Noy’s NCR chapter, he travels throughout the region to give talks on why Noynoy is his candidate and how fellow supporters can spread the word about the senator.


Karl with friends at a palengke run. Photographed by Geric Reyes.

The 22-year-old’s schedule is often packed. Sometimes he even forgoes his morning shower just to get to an activity on time.

Karl likes to begin his presentations by quoting entrepreneur Paul Hawken as saying, “The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hope only makes sense when it doesn’t make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it.”

And he needs hope more than ever.

The worst thing about being part of the campaign for Noynoy, Karl says, is “being privy to the worst possible scenarios and sometimes briefly feeling so helpless knowing people can do the most harmful things. Just the other day, operators close to COMELEC approached a director-friend of mine [naming] the price [to pay] to [place tenth to twelfth] in the [senatorial] race.”

What keeps him going is “seeing the formerly apathetic shine and inspire others…. We just have to continue the one big laban (fight).”

He does this through his seminars. The most vital part of it are his lessons on how to answer such questions as, “What has Noynoy done?,” “What about Hacienda Luisita?,” and “What is his stand on the RH Bill?” Much like a graded recitation, he calls on audience members and fires these questions at them to test their knowledge.

Joshua


Joshua Duldulao is no stranger to questions like these. The head of Yo!Noy’s UP Diliman chapter, he participates in discussions about Noynoy and running mate Mar Roxas at the university’s AS Lobby every Friday afternoon. He and his friends call these sessions “Noy-Mar 101.”



“I am a converted cynic,” the 21-year-old says. “Before Tita Cory died, I looked at the roster of presidentiables and I found them all trapos (traditional politicians). [Her death served] as a reminder to everyone that there was once a leader who was able to gather people from all walks of life… to unite as one. She was a leader who [had] integrity, who [had] been honest to herself and to the country. [So I saw that] there’s logic behind the idea of the people to push Senator Aquino to continue the laban of his father and his mother.”

Although he admits his decision to support Noynoy was initially spurred by emotion, he did his research and was pleasantly surprised at what he found out.

“Nakita ko… na wala siyang naipasang batas, pero ang nakita ko dun sa labing-apat na sinulong niyang batas sa senado, at ‘yung iba pang sinulat niya sa kongreso, mayroong consistency dun sa mga pronouncements niya bago siya tumakbo, na gusto niyang maging fiscalizer, gusto niya na mag-work ‘yung checks and balances sa government. And then tinignan ko: ano ba ‘yung issue ni Senator Aquino? Wala siyang corruption charges (Although he wasn’t able to pass any laws, there is consistency in the 14 bills he pushed for in the Senate, and those he wrote in Congress, with his pronouncements before he ran for president. He wants to become a fiscalizer, to make the checks and balances between the branches of government to work. Are there any negative issues regarding Senator Aquino? He has no corruption charges).”

Joshua joined the Pinoy Power movement, a group which supports Noynoy’s bid, and became part of its policy group. This is where he helped craft the outline of the senator’s 16-point agenda.

His belief in Noynoy only intensified when he learned that the senator had a 20-hour sit-down with “policy bigwigs of the Liberal Party and sectoral groups” to discuss the draft. “He commented on almost every agenda of the platform. There were consultations about the environment, economy, education.”

Now that he is on his summer break, Joshua continues to organize activities to promote his candidate of choice.

“Here’s a leader with integrity. Here’s a leader with competence. And here’s a leader who listens to the people.”

Follow Yo!Noy on Twitter.