June 10, 2021
Sheri Rose Malicdem
RIGHT TO VOTE. The Commission on Election releases some quick guidelines for voter’s registration happening at their offices nationwide until September 30, 2021. (Infographic/Caption by Sheri Rose Malicdem)
Why should young people register to vote? How do they have a say in the 2022 Philippine national elections? What is at stake? Simply, because they have a crucial role to play and this one vote is the only chance of hope for the country in the following years - and that is why it matters.
Currently, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is targeting four million first-time voters by the end of the registration period on September 30, 2021, but it is way behind the expected numbers. As of early May, around 2.8 million first-timers have only been registered.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) also added that according to their population projections, a total of 40 million Filipinos aged 18 to 35 are eligible to vote in 2022.
Revisiting the past
Historically, millennial voters dominated the voter list during the past national elections. Last 2016 Presidential Elections, 34% or more than 18.39 million of the 54.36 million registered voters were aged 18 to 29 years old.
During the most recent Senatorial Elections, it was 31% or roughly 19 million out of 61.84 million registered voters. It just shows how impactful the votes of the youth can deliver.
In order to further show how big the youth's numbers are, we can take the vote count of Rodrigo Duterte as an example during the 2016 Elections where there were 16.6 million people who voted for him. Statistically, the total votes from millennials are much bigger than Duterte's total accumulated votes to win his current position as the president.
In addition, in the last 2019 Elections, more than 2.5 million Filipinos registered as new voters. It exceeded the COMELEC’s expectation of 1.5 to 2 million new voters.
From these laid statistics, COMELEC Spokesperson James Jimenez urged youths to register as they adjusted office hours from 8 a.m.to 3 p.m. now turned into 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also, satellite registration sites have been opened for Saturdays to cater to more young people in their most probable free time.
Reasons to vote
In the midst of a more than a year-long pandemic, the rundown of events blatantly bared the incompetent governance of the Duterte administration, vulnerable health care, and deep-seated systemic issues of education.
It started when all of these reflected through downplaying the health crisis by not imposing the travel ban immediately, flexing the militaristic approach as a solution, slow-paced processing for free and systematic mass testing, lack of concrete plans and actions for the granted 275 billion fund, scarcity of medical protection equipment and laboratories, not prioritizing vaccinations for herd immunity, support for frontliners, and aid for vulnerable sectors.
Recently, the students clamored in social media about Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman J. Prospero De Vera III statements wherein flexible learning will stay and “there is no going back to the traditional, full-packed face-to-face classrooms.”
With this kind of remark, a free, accessible, and quality education for all is far from reach. At this rate of costly remote learning set-up, private schools will cease to function, dropouts will soar, and student youths who are not privileged as others were left with no choice but to stop.
Youth as one of the most affected sectors continuously bear the brunt of these regime’s countless failures to deliver these services primarily on health and education. We do not want another fascist along with his allies and draconian policies, aren’t we?
Redeeming a genuine democracy
It should certainly serve as an eye-opener for all of us. It really speaks volumes on what kind of leaders we need when another pandemic strikes the country. We firmly need leaders who will stand up proud with good conduct and principles to uphold.
As Chief Youth Mobilizer John Carlo Borja of the Positive Youth Development Network encouraged the “young people to claim the space, be inside the spice, and level up the game when it comes to our civil responsibilities and duties.”
The youth have the power to make the ever-important political decisions that influence the future of our nation. We are part of the whole history we make and we have the right to ask, demand, and charge those people who are seated in power.
One of the fights of the youth is done by exercising our right to vote. It will only take minutes to register for voting but results will last for years. All of us need to get involved because we have the power to make a difference. SYNC IN
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