Sparrow Flies Over Commonwealth

A poem on tasting collective power

Photo by Michael Varcas from the 2018 People’s SONA.

I wrote the first draft of this poem a few years ago after marching in the People’s State of the Nation (SONA), which protested the corrupt administration of President Marcos Jr.

It feels right to share it here, to a growing number of you reading my words, especially given the recent string of unjust arrests against community organizers, journalists and activists: Chantal Anicoche¹, Frenchie Mae Cumpo², and environmental defenders Florentino Daynos, Krislyn Pocday, Adela Modi, Analiza Balliao, Amelia Rabino, Janey Macari, and Sonnette Bullecer from Nueva Vizcaya³.

What I hate most about impunity is how smug the people in power have to be. Impunity has to die.

I know that at times, protest can feel performative and draining—too many cameras, not enough change. I revised this poem today as a reminder of the animal grace of protest, what can happen when our feelings and desires and pent up anger align so that we move uninhibited, driven only by instinct. In those rare experiences, when you realize why they call it a movement, it matters less what happens after because you’ve just tasted collective power.

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Sparrow flies over Commonwealth

And just like the bird as small as my palm

I march with the people as one animal.

And just like the dragonfly thinking the road

is a river, we are a light-dappled force.

And just like the bats shadowing the sky

we climb the air and claim rotten fruit.

And just like the rain that prowled

through the night, we leave traces

of a better world for you to find.

1. Action Network, “Surface Chantal Anicoche!”

2. AlterMidya, “‘A MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE’: Altermidya Condemns the Guilty Verdict on Frenchie Mae Cumpio’s Case.” AlterMidya, January 22, 2026.

3. Perez, “Kaso Vs 7 Inaresto Sa Dupax Del Norte, Ibinasura.” Pinoy Weekly, January 27, 2026.

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