20/09/2026
Seek the truth always...
We watched EDJOPTheMovie for our son’s 16th birthday, just in time for his R-16 movie milestone.
On our drive home, we had a little family discussion, and it became more than just watching a film. It became a meaningful conversation about memory, sacrifice, family, justice, and what it means to be Filipino.
Here are some of the things we pondered:
1. “Never forget” is a profound phrase.
It is not unforgiveness. It is not refusing to move on from the past. It is remembering.
Remembering the people who sacrificed, not only the heroes whose names we know, but especially the unsung ones who gave up their lives, their families, their children, their careers, their safety, and sometimes their futures so that others could enjoy the freedom we have today.
For some, this is history. For others, it was childhood, growing up with a father who was taken away, or with a father who simply could not be there. Women who had to stand, mother, and raise their children while carrying fear, grief, and memories that others may have wanted erased.
2. Then there are the parents who knew that their children had chosen a path where they might never come home.
I cannot imagine what Mommy Josefa must have carried. There is something profound about the kind of parenting that understands that raising a strong son also means, sometimes, having to let him go. That is a different kind of letting go.
3. Perhaps one of the most heartbreaking things in EDJOP is seeing how a child can grow up struggling to understand the sacrifice of a father she barely knew.
And my son said something that stayed with me: “If even the child of a hero can struggle to understand her father’s sacrifice, how much more can an entire generation forget?”
This is why stories matter. Not to tell our children which side to take, not to make them partisan, and not to romanticize everything a historical figure believed or did. But to make them ask questions, study, discern, and seek truth.
4. And this is just one of the many Filipino stories that deserve to be remembered.
There are many more: children who lost fathers during political violence and the drug war, families who continue to live with unanswered questions, and people affected by corruption and failures in public infrastructure.
5. We want our children to learn that loving our country does not mean blindly defending it. Remembering history does not mean living in hatred. It means learning from the past so we can become more discerning about the present.
EDJOP is about one man’s story, but for us, it became a window into many stories: the heroes we remember, the families left behind, the mothers who let go, the fathers who sacrificed, and the children who carried the consequences.
Our responsibility is to remember, and to teach our children, our next generation, our next voters and leaders, to seek truth for themselves.
You are very brave for sharing your story, Joyette.
And to those who haven’t watched EDJOP yet, perhaps watch it not simply as a film, but as an invitation to remember, to ask questions, and to seek truth.
https://www.edjopthemovie.com/
