In 2019, with more than 62 million people voting or a voter turnout of better than 75 percent, the elections achieved a credibility rating in the 80s, one of the highest on record. The Filipino nation—by and large—accepted the outcome of the elections as the true will of the people. In no small measure was that triumph due to the determination of millions of people who trooped to the polling places, stood shoulder to shoulder even in inclement weather, and cast their ballots. And of those millions, 22,083,529 came from among your ranks.
In 2019, the Filipino youth came out in record numbers and shook the political world awake. Now look around you. From the hallowed halls of the Senate, to the equally sacred municipal halls all over the country, our elected officials are younger than they have ever been. That is no accident; that is, in large part, due to the power of young people voting.
But voting is only one thing you can do—you can do so much more. If your vote is this powerful, just imagine the kind of impact you could have if you put your mind to it. There is no shortage of things that need to be done.
Unfortunately, our elections are under siege on multiple fronts. There are, for example, the perennial threats of vote buying, voter suppression, and misinformation. These are the congenital ills of the electoral system—the inborn problems of democracy that can never be entirely solved but can only be contained, one election at a time.
And then, there is a growing cynicism among the youth—a nagging voice that whispers to them “none of this matters, so why bother?” This belief that elections are unimportant, for whatever reason, is like a virus that spreads from person to person. This virus, however, isn’t airborne—it is social media-borne, for that is where it spreads most virulently.
And finally, speaking of viruses, elections are also under attack from the literal virus, corona. This is, far and away, the most dangerous attack on the elections.
Because of the coronavirus, we can’t reasonably expect elections to look as they did before. Campaigns to be used as opportunities to reach out and touch the lives and hearts of people have suddenly become potentially fatal. And people who used to look forward to election day are now thinking twice about going to the polling places.
Even the registration process—where traditionally people turn out in such large numbers—is being adversely affected. Where they used to line up to register, people are staying home. In the last eight weeks of voter registration, less than 500,000 have registered or updated their registration records. With less than a year left in this registration period, we still have more than 3 million left who can register, and roughly a million who need to reactivate their dormant voter registrations. If things don’t pick up soon, we are looking at the possibility of having fewer voters in 2022 than we did in 2019.
If all of that sounds bleak, well, I suppose it is. But as daunting as these challenges are, none of them are insurmountable—most especially not for you. And so, I throw the gauntlet down before you—instead of merely whining about the imperfections you see, I challenge you to use your vision, your inner fire, your skills and knowledge to bear down on these many problems besetting the first elections of the pandemic era that we find ourselves in. I challenge you and your generation to lead the way forward so that the rest of us may follow. I have no doubt that you are up to the task. You have to be. An entire nation is depending on you.