The official music video of the theme song of ABS-CBN’s election campaign, “Boto Mo, iPatrol Mo (BMPM): Ako ang Simula,” is not an ordinary, run-of-the-mill video.

With a running time of four minutes and 30 seconds, the song titled “Ako ang Simula” sends out a more urgent and significant call to the Filipino youth.

ABS-CBN creative director Ira Zabat, who also wrote the lyrics, said the song enjoins the millennial generation to take responsibility for the 2010 elections.

This clamor for change is the central message of the BMPM movement, which was launched during the 2007 mid-term elections, and re-launched last May 11, one year ahead of the presidential polls in May 2010.

For Charie Villa, ABS-CBN's vice president for newsgathering, the message of the song aims to fight apathy in the country and reawaken the sense of nationalism among Filipinos.

Villa said Filipinos are naturally moved by music, and, hopefully, their apathy and indifference in the upcoming 2010 elections will be stamped out through the BMPM theme song.

“We want to send the message that this 2010 election is very important,” she said.

Villa said there is a need for a movement to fight apathy in the country because the situation is getting worse.

“May exposé tayo sa corruption and yet people are not moved. Does our justice system still work? Bakit nakakatakas pa din ‘yung tinuro na nagnakaw ng milyon-milyon? Ang nakakulong pa ‘yong mga tumistigo,” she said.

She added that Filipinos should go beyond online petitions and Facebook to protest the injustice in the country. “We have to do something about it.”

Maria Ressa, head of ABS-CBN News & Current Affairs and ANC’s managing director, also pointed out that “music hits you emotionally,” and emotions push people to move for change.

Drumbeat

Aside from the song's message, the “Ako ang Simula” music is like a wake-up call. Composed by renowned Mike Villegas, it is a fusion of the BMPM signature drumbeat, rock and ethnic music.

Both Villa and Zabat said the drumbeat signifies an urgent call for action.

“’Yung drum, there's something coming, may mangyayari, may suspense, call to action,” Villa said.

Zabat added: “The drumbeat evokes a march, an urgent call to action, to inspire the next generation of voters, to be the change they want to see and to take hold of their country’s destiny.”

"At dapat ata, kung totoong para sa buong bayan 'to, dapat maramdaman at marining ang probinsiya,” Zabat said.

This is why Zabat included in the lyrics the “Ako ang Simula” line spoken in various dialects. He said everybody, even overseas Filipino workers, should be able to relate to the song.

Story line

The central figures in the video--rocker Rico Blanco, “Imago” vocalist Aia De Leon, and “Sandwich” frontman Raimund Marasigan – will also be part of the whole story, not just mere singers.

The three are among the country’s famous rock vocalists and popular among the Filipino youths, the primary target of the movement.

A hundred youths have been commissioned to be part of the music video as well as some ABS-CBN anchors.

“We will catch young Filipinos getting up, going out, connecting. May nag-text, Tumanggap ‘yung isa, pasa ng message, tanggap, pasa, tanggap. They march out armed with their mobile phones, cameras, and computers. They converge in different places,” Zabat said.

They raise their thumbs and begin affixing their thumbprints of red, white, yellow, and blue on a huge wall, he added. The thumbprint, he said, is a universal expression of identity and commitment.

“The movement is a call for commitment, emphasizing the importance of each Filipino in bringing about genuine change,” he said.

Change

Villa said the music video will hopefully eradicate the feeling of cynicism and hopelessness pervading among today’s youths.

“Now, they would rather think of how to get out of the country rather than how to improve their country. Many of them magnu-nursing basta lang makalayas dito kasi wala tayong opportunities na nakikita dito. Ang sinasabi namin, nasa kamay niyo yan,” she said.

She said it is about time that they believe again in the process of choosing better leaders as one step to bring about change in the country. “If you want your country to change, if you want to stay here, make something of yourselves.”

The “Ako ang Simula” music video will be first seen on Thursday during the annual ABS-CBN flag-raising ceremony. Villa said it will also be played on “Ruffa and Ai” and “Umagang Kay Ganda.”

And, in the future, Villa said a full-blast concert calling for change might be in the offing.