A couple of weeks ago, in the run-up to Christmas 2025, my good friends Ana and Rick and myself had a good time catching up over coffee. We surprised ourselves that evening at a mall. We chatted about current events, politics, and personal updates. We also again surprised ourselves by remembering that the new year 2026 would actually mark the 25th anniversary of a pet project we kept for the longest time.

Yes, 25 years. Two decades and a half. A quarter of a century.

We were referring to TXTPower, an advocacy group that would be most familiar to Generation X, as well as some younger boomers and elder millennials. Formed in August 2001, months after the second EDSA People Power uprising, it drew inspiration from the role of texting in that important political movement and focused on Filipinos as consumers and as citizens.

TXTPower convenors through the years include Ederic Eder, Mong Palatino, Trixie Concepcion, Atom Araullo, Rey Asis, Ruth Cervantes, Rey Asis, Gani Tapang, Ana Celestial, Rick Bahague and this columnist.

Yes, the world’s texting capital had an organization.

Here’s an old profile of TXTPower: “TXTPower is an organization of cellphone users that aims to empower Filipinos both as consumers and as citizens.

“As a consumer advocacy group, TXTPower is for lower call and text rates, for greater access to telecommunications services, for protection from monopolies and oligopolies and their abuses and for government to lead the way in the development and use of telecommunications for the people's good.

“As a citizens' group, TXTPower draws inspiration from the use of technology (mobile telephony and the internet) in pushing reforms as in People Power 2. It is totally against government attempts to violate the people's right to privacy of communications and to free expression. It is for the widespread use of technological tools to advance sectoral and national interests, to expose criminal acts against Filipinos, and to champion reforms too.”

It was a new kind of advocacy group and it figured prominently in campaigns around the reduction of free texts bundled in prepaid load cards, the removal of unlimited texting, quality of service issues, and in successfully slaying repeated proposals to impose new taxes on telco services. We tangled with telcos and regulators, pressing the latter to protect consumers. TXTPower also denounced early attempts to tamper with privacy of communications, including mandatory SIM registration.

We also tackled political issues like the alleged fraud in the 2004 elections. From the “Hello Garci” tapes came the “Hello Garci ringtone” which the government sought but failed to ban.

Years before online donations became the norm, TXTPower launched a fundraiser for Ondoy victims, with all proceeds amounting to P1.6 million turned over to the Philippine National Red Cross. (Yes, PNRC era.)

We appeared in many hearings in the House and the Senate, as well as before the NTC.

TXTPower’s reputation was positive not just in the Philippines, but also overseas. We were asked to share about our experiences in conferences in Los Angeles and Toronto, among others.

The latter years of frenetic TXTPower activity coincided with the rise of Philippine internet, blogging and social media. Many of our convenors became bloggers. Sensing the next phase of “modern technology,” the group also began to speak about internet access and internet rights until, I guess, around 10 years ago.

Ana, Rick, and I are planning to call for a reunion of TXTPower convenors this 2026 so we could look back and remember. Perhaps we as a group could write a book of essays, plus our past statements and position papers. Maybe we could also attempt to look into the future of TXTPower, if we could see any.

Facing a 25th anniversary also meant that TXTPower convenors have also grown up and, quite frankly, have started to face our golden years. If TXTPower is to be reborn or reincarnated, it should happen soon before it joins the ranks of the “trentahin.”

Activism in the technology and digital space face new threats and opportunities: Artificial intelligence, scams, gambling, fake news, troll farms, troll armies, new laws. Old problems too like duopolies and apparently weak regulation. I think the new generation has what it takes to rediscover advocacy in this space, to protect what needs to be protected, and to perhaps listen to, learn from, build on and surpass what we titos and titas started 25 years ago.

But first, TXTPower titos and titas would have our reunion on or before August 2026, to be arranged via modern messaging. Not anymore by texting.