𝐓𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞

Bro. Manuel de Leon stepped up to the microphone at Plaza Heneral Santos on August 29, wearing the same white and black the coalition had asked participants to wear, as he called on member-consumer-owners to stay involved and demand transparency in SOCOTECO II’s proposed joint venture with Ignite Power.

Best known on campus as Notre Dame of Dadiangas University’s president, de Leon had spent recent months speaking up as one of the most visible voices in the coalition opposing the proposed deal.

He took his turn at the podium as the afternoon’s messages built toward their synthesis, and by then, the crowd had sat through hours of history, numbers, and appeals from speaker after speaker.

Many had traveled from parishes and barangays across General Santos and Sarangani to hear the unified message repeated in different voices throughout the afternoon, while de Leon kept his message simple by reminding the crowd of what they already were.

Then he said the words that would carry through the rest of the program: “Ang gusto lang namin ay mailabas ang katotohanan o lumabas ang totoong proseso at makasama tayo sa pagbuo ng desisyon. Bilang isang MCO’s kailangan natin magpakabana, o makialam, mabahala, magpakita ng interest at malasakit sa ating kooperatiba.”

“All we want is for the truth to come out, for the real process to be revealed, and for us to have a hand in shaping the decision,” de Leon said, adding that MCOs need to be concerned, get involved, stay watchful, and show real interest and care for their cooperative.

A ripple of applause followed, the kind that comes when a crowd hears its own thoughts said out loud, and the line echoed almost word for word what he had told reporters weeks earlier when he called the board’s early acceptance of the Ignite Power proposal “parang minadali” (“seemingly rushed”).

For de Leon, the demand was never about blocking modernization outright, mirroring what fellow speaker Thelma had told the same crowd hours earlier in Bisaya.

It was about who gets to decide, not just how fast the cooperative could modernize, while COPS-MCOs framed its fight around three demands from the start: full disclosure of the cooperative’s finances, real consultation with ordinary members, and accountability from whoever signs on their behalf.

On paper, the proposed deal would give Ignite Power 70 percent of the cooperative, leaving member-consumers with 30 percent, and de Leon’s words landed just months before roughly 200,000 qualified member-consumer-owners decide for the joint venture’s fate over four weekends in September.

For a university president more used to commencement speeches than protest podiums, it was, by his own account, simply a matter of showing up for people who deserved a straight answer.

By the time the program moved toward its final hymns, his short appeal had already circulated online under the rally’s own banner, “Kahayag sa Tanan,” a Bisaya phrase organizers translated simply as light for everyone.