A Tacloban-based group of alternative (or ethno-tribal) scene musicians are just the newest additions to those swept by the 'change begins with me' fever being promoted by Boto Mo iPatrol Mo: Ako ang Simula (BMPM), ABS-CBN's election-focused citizen journalism project which calls on people to help the media report wrongdoing and prod authorities to act.

The group Kulahig, or the Kultura, Arte at Himig, has just created an award-winning video for their song entitled 'Simulan' which urges people to start change themselves.

Tata dela Cruz, the band's vocalist, said her group composed the song on Independence Day of 2007, out of musings on how Filipinos seemed to have lost appreciation for the freedom they enjoy.
 
The song they produced talks about how each citizen can take up the cudgel of change, and begin transforming society by starting with himself.
 
The same theme is also being promoted by the BMPM campaign, which hopes to make a siginificant impact for the May 2010 elections by having people actively patrolling the election process. BMPM's own music video, "Ako ang Simula" resonates with this theme.

Last January, Kulahig produced a video for 'Simulan' and entered this into a contest for the local UP Largabista Film Festival, where it won.

Dela Cruz said her group's message in their 'Simulan' song runs parallel to the campaign of BMPM.

For BMPM, this simply means the message of change coming from citizens' efforts are beginning to catch up among the people, prodding them to themselves call on other citizens to initiate the same kind of change.

Tacloban is one of BMPM's most active areas. There have been five Boto Patroller registrations there since September. There are 1,721 Boto Patrollers in Tacloban. Total Patrollers in the Philippines run to at least 60,000.

On Friday night, during the "Ako ang Simula: Himig ng Pagbabago," the free concert for Boto Patrollers held at the University of Santo Tomas, BMPM also acknowledged Lito Valencia, a singer-songwriter who composed a variation of the BMPM theme song.
 
Valencia's song is also entitled "Ako ang Simula" and tackles the BMPM mantra of citizens being empowered to start change from within themselves. Crowd estimates peg the attendees to the concert at 20,000.