MANILA, Philippines - She was wearing black—her color of choice, as I soon figured out—sitting at a dinner table accompanied by a curious mix of thespians and convicts. This was her Wednesday routine, sharing a hot bowl of tinola amid tales of the inmates at The New Bilibid prison. It was simple and casual, as if the scene had taken place at Central Perk with the cast of Friends. All it lacked was the canned laughter and the fake applause.
A little after dinner, I turned to her, Therese “Gang” Badoy, the only person to ever be honored as part of The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service and the Ten Outstanding Young Men this year for her socio-civic work through RockEd Philippines — an ongoing campaign to educate people, specifically students, through alternative means. For someone with such high accolades, she seemed so down-to-earth. At the slightest mention of her awards, she cringed and laughed. That quickly turned into an aghast “Really? No way!” when she heard about the Wikipedia page devoted to her. She was accomplishing so much, but was oblivious to the fame that got dragged along with it. “The awards are irrelevant,” she said, “But they become relevant because they’re a great chance to say ‘Thank you’. It’s a ‘Thank you’ that my parents will understand.”
Nation Moment
Being born and raised in a Catholic household with a Justice for a dad and a Literature teacher for a mom seemed like the perfect set-up to jumpstart Gang at an early age. She already had the tools, but to say that she was instantly set on making RockEd happen would be inaccurate. “I was materialistic,” Gang recalled the time she spent abroad after college, “I used to run for personal comfort and pleasure. I wanted to get richer.” Coupled with her insatiable curiosity, she became one of those reckless youths who loved to question the norms and explored everything that was available out there — for her. Not once did she ever think of something greater than herself, not until she came back to the Philippines.
There was a pause in her narration, a momentary lull to set up a rhetorical question. “Have you ever experienced standing in a crowd where everyone is feeling the same thing? There’s a certain feeling there and I had to name it. I used to call it a ‘Nation Moment.’ Kapag nanalo si Pacquiao or when you’re in a rally, you suddenly realize, ‘Wow, I’m part of a whole.’ It’s when I feel that I’m part of a country, part of something big and we’re all on the same page.”
Admittedly, Gang isn’t a fan of rallies. She doesn’t even want to be called an aktibista. But at the height of the Hello Garci scandal in 2005, she felt so frustrated and so compelled to go on her own accord. “I rarely do that and it was certainly out of character. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but I knew I was not satisfied with just going.” It was this dissatisfaction that eventually landed us inside a maximum security prison, five years later, holding a workshop for inmates for Rock the Rehas, only one of the many projects Gang manages under RockEd.
Hardcore Fluff
Gang never really planned any of it. She didn’t plan on having a radio show on the now defunct NU 107. She didn’t plan interviewing politicians and icons. She didn’t plan to turn RockEd Radio into a disaster hotline during Ondoy. She didn’t plan on holding simultaneous concerts for Rock the Riles to celebrate Human Rights Day. She didn’t plan to teach workshops in prison on a regular basis. She didn’t really plan RockEd to be the organization that it is now. None of it was planned, and that’s the funny thing. All RockEd was half a decade ago was just an idea, a simple idea to stir the minds of young people with the hopes of inspiring them to be agents of change for the nation.
“I used to think what we were doing was fluff and not hardcore, but if we didn’t do it, then there won’t be a new wave of kids actively participating and passionate about starting something. I understand now that RockEd is an anteroom to civic-mindedness. I think we appeal to the teenager who does not have a venue to be nationalistic. There’s this middle group in the population that just likes music, film, photography, and fashion. Do they not have the capacity to be civic-minded? I think that’s what RockEd accidentally talked to. Knowing now that our greatest audience is composed of high school and college students, we give them an array of advocacies and options to pursue.”
Already half-way done with this 10-year campaign, Gang still pursues RockEd with much gusto. Though her daily schedule mostly comprises meetings with volunteers and partners, her face is still as youthful as the kids she aims to raise up. She had a smile on her face when we started walking towards the prison gate. I asked about her plans after RockEd was over. “I just want to sleep,” she quipped, “And teach some more. I’m a teacher. I won’t stop educating.”
We arrived at New Bilibid with the sun still up, and we were leaving in the black of the night. But it wasn’t dark, not at all.