Riders of Change: The campaign trail from startup to service

When we started Angkas, it felt like we were throwing ourselves into the unknown – just like now, as we dive headfirst into the world of public service with the Angkasangga Partylist. The transition from running a startup to leading a political campaign has been exciting, humbling and daunting all at the same time. But if there’s anything I’ve learned from years of pushing Angkas to where it is today, it’s that building something meaningful always comes with birthing pains. And that’s where we are now. This campaign feels like a startup, one that’s bootstrapped, full of ambition, and powered by ingenuity and grit of the Filipino people.

The campaign may have just started, but it already feels so familiar. The same principles that guided us through the early days of Angkas are the same ones driving us now. There’s a deep sense of mission – this time, not just to provide safe motorcycle transport but to serve millions of Filipinos more directly through public office.

Like any good startup, Angkas wasn’t built overnight. There were times when the odds were stacked against us, and failure seemed imminent. But in every challenge, we found opportunity. The idea was simple: give Filipinos an affordable, efficient and safe way to get around. But executing that vision wasn’t simple at all. We had to fight for regulation, earn the trust of commuters, and prove to the public that Angkas wasn’t just another “habal-habal” operation. It was a legitimate solution to our country’s traffic problems.

Similarly, in launching the Angkasangga Partylist, we’re not just running a campaign. We’re building a movement. The movement is about empowering the underrepresented sectors – the informal workers, the daily commuters, the riders who are too often left behind in national conversations. This isn’t just about putting up posters or rallying for votes. It’s about changing the way we think about governance. We need leadership that listens to the people, that brings them into the process, and that genuinely cares about the challenges they face every day.

When you’re building a startup, you often start with very little. You bootstrap. You hustle. You do whatever it takes to keep things