The Election

There are about 120 million Filipinos and around 67 million are registered voters. About 45% of these voters are above 18 years old but below 30. They belong to the youth vote. However, many more belonging to the youth vote are not registered voters for 4 reasons. First, they don’t care/are not interested. Second, there’s nothing in it for them. Professional politicians control the system. How can you win? Third, they don’t trust the system so they stay away and lastly, they feel it does not matter because one’s tiny, miserable insignificant vote will not change the setup/result. If this trend/attitude among the youth continues, we will lose many good honest, intelligent future elective public officials. It’s like an airplane. If the young replacement plane crew might not be smart, good, honest, and skillful then the plane might crash. The passengers (120 million Filipinos) will go down with the plane. A typical cynical retort. So what? It’s democracy in action for better or for worse. The veteran politician thinks it’s a vicious circle. Why should a politician running for public office talk about climate change, territorial waters, and human rights to people who will not vote. He can sing, dance, talk about Johnny Depp, Ai-Ai Delas Alas, Electronic Sabong, Expressways to people who will vote. Election is a rare gift from heaven. Of about 110 nations, 30% do not have elections and/or do not have fair honest elections. We should not reject/waste this precious gift to vote in an election. Tomorrow, May 9, please go out and vote.