The Filipino Youth Must Lead a “ReVOTElution” for Socioeconomic Empowerment

| Photo by Maayan Nemanov on Unsplash

Part II of “A New Philippine Commonwealth” Series

Today, we discuss a “ReVOTElution of H.O.P.E.” A Facebook Group is named after it. It is easy to find it on Facebook. A “ReVOTElution of H.O.P.E.” (formerly called “Project 21”) was presented to the voters of Sorsogon for the May 9, 2016, election. It aims to help bring the Philippines, with Sorsogon as the pilot province, from the 20th century into the 21st century. This Sorsoganon coined the term in 2007,

It was first proposed as an economic platform with Phase One of a 25-year program when this OFWriter went home to run for governor in the 2016 local election. But the voters did not want long-term development projects. They wanted immediate cash, so they sold their votes to the winning candidates. The same vote-buying practice continued for the next three elections. In 2016, Sorsogon was the 19th poorest province in the country. Now it is the 12th poorest province. Instead of progressing, the province retrogressed.

“H.O.P.E.” is the acronym of “Helping Online People’s Empowerment.” “ReVOTElution” is the process of achieving evolutionary changes for the better by a peaceful and orderly practice of suffrage. This columnist continued writing ideas in his column. Still, very few Sorsoganons really cared, as it seems that they accepted their destiny as poor people (while their political masters continued to amass wealth at the expense of voters, who were proverbially fried with, and in, their own lard. In most Filipino languages, it is translated as “ginisa sa sariling (o sadiring) mantika”.

TWIN PROJECTS PROPOSED FOR EVERY PROVINCE

To begin the “ReVOTElution”, the young (and the young at heart) must start by reading twin articles on back-to-basics projects proposed for the pilot province of Sorsogon. Similar projects can be launched in the country’s 82 other provinces.

On February 26, 2023, this column discussed “Project 541” (for the province’s 541 barangays or barrios) and launched a “Medical Moonshot”. More details about the twin projects can be found at this link:

It is worth noting that the opening paragraph of the article mentioned then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who wrote a best-selling book in 1996, It Takes a Village. It tells the heartwarming and universal story of a diverse community coming together to make a difference. Yes, it takes many people to work together to complete even a simple village project.

On March 1, 2023, this writer discussed how to fund “Project 541” and “Medical Moonshot” ideas. The funding mechanisms are found in this link:

The lead paragraphs said that in his farewell speech on January 10, 2017, President Barack Obama said that he still believed that “change only happens when ordinary people get involved, get engaged, and come together to demand it.”

To make “Project 541” and its main component, the “Medical Moonshot,” happen, Sorsoganons (and Filipinos) must remember President Obama’s back-to-basics words on “CHANGE.”

AVAILABLE GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR TWIN PROJECTS

During the 2016 campaign for governor of Sorsogon, this journalist noted that the twin projects could draw initial government spending from the provincial share of the Value-Added Tax (VAT). This writer was informed by his sources in the provincial government that Sorsogon’s 40% share of the VAT collected in the province amounted to PhP 1.3 billion per fiscal year.

Hence, it was easy for the provincial government to invest its entire VAT shares in the 541 barangays (barrios) at the rate of one million pesos per barangay co-op. Yes, instead of building prestige projects like a sports complex, flood-control, small sea or river walls that often were ghost projects. There would be a balance of PhP 759 million remaining that could be invested in Sorsogon’s public healthcare infrastructure, comprising a provincial hospital, four district hospitals, and health clinics in the towns (that did not have a hospital). At that time, the provincial budget for all the public hospitals and clinics was just some 200 million pesos. Thus, this journalist floated the idea of turning healthcare into cooperatives and having the government invest the entire 1.3 billion pesos in barrio-and-healthcare cooperatives per year. So, there was no room for any public official to profit personally from VAT. And the beauty of cooperatives is that workers, consumers, patients, the general public, Overseas Filipinos, and OFWs can invest in them.

Another fellow columnist in the Philippine Daily Mirror, Crispin Fernandez, MD, wrote on September 18, 2025, about the VAT, which he called “Vicious Affront on Taxpayers”. Readers should read Dr. Cris Fernandez’s well-researched article at this link:

The up-and-coming generations of Sorsoganon and other Filipino youth leaders in other provinces must form study-and-action groups that OFWriters may help organize. Anything is possible for taxpayers, especially their children and other descendants.

Citizens can work together to push ideas that reflect the people’s socioeconomic realities, by the people, and for the people, and their co-ops. If there is a collective will, there are legal ways to do it. And do it all, including reforms, especially when it comes to taxes. All they have to do is remember the lessons given by former First Lady Hillary Clinton and President Obama. Perhaps the Clinton and Obama Foundations may help and even invest in the said barrio cooperatives. And begin a truly people-owned and operated Universal Healthcare.