We need to participate in voter education programs!
On February 21, 2008, I posted a blog entry on GannsDeen.com that explained why I felt GMA should finish her term. I had recently become a member of Team RP, a college students- and young professionals-led initiative that advocated truth, accountability, and reform in Philippine government; I felt that I shared the same vision with these young men and women. In that blog entry, I identified the following points as what I felt were essential to bring about the dawn of a new age in Philippine politics:
- Voters’ education is absolute, non-negotiable, and essential to the elimination of “trapo” politics. “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” Knowing that different issues resonate with different people, efforts should be made – preferably by nonpartisan groups – to present “the big picture” to as many voters as possible. We need a place that provides that information without the candidates’ spin. Something like this. With the advent of the Internet, it becomes increasingly obvious that an impartial website that provides information about candidates’ stands and track records will be crucial to the credible election of a credible president.
- Integrity in government begins with personal integrity. Values begin at home, and if we continue to remain apathetic to our country’s situation, as far as I’m concerned, that speaks volumes about where we are headed as a nation. If we watch out only for ourselves, we can expect the same kind of fragmented disillusionment to remain in our mindsets for generations to come. For the Philippines to move forward, the Philippine political system must adopt, as US President Barack Obama puts it, a “politics of common sense, of common purpose, of shared sacrifice and shared prosperity.” A public servant whose heart is in the right place will not tolerate corruption; a private citizen cannot afford to turn the other cheek when something wrong is being committed right before his or her eyes. S/He will not bribe his way to convenience; s/he values her/his name so much that s/he will not allow corruption or tolerance to take place. No to moderated greed and tolerated corruption!
Well, it’s now May 2009, and it pleases me to note that efforts are now being made by several nonpartisan groups to provide the kind of information that can help voters decide intelligently – although I use this term a little haphazardly – who deserves their vote in 2010. Youth Vote Philippines (YVP), for instance, has created an initial chart that will detail the stands (and hopefully, track records) of identified politicians who are interested in the presidency, based on the eight Millennium Development Goals identified by the United Nations Development Program. YVP is also encouraging first-time voters to get out and vote, launching a campaign titled YVote Caravan.
(I learned of YVP through Kiko.ph, the official website of Senator Kiko Pangilinan, with whom I had dinner last night at Mesa, a restaurant in Greenbelt that he apparently co-owns with some friends. While I did “Oooh!” and “Aaah!” at the food – because it was worth it; try the tilapia with four sauces or the splended pato tim, which is like pata tim but with duck instead of pork – and the cozy interiors afforded by the restaurant, I didn’t mince words with Senator Pangilinan. Neither did Jomar, Tita Noemi, Ivan, and Vince, with all of whom I had the pleasure of meeting the good senator. While I praised him on his decision to run as an independent in 2007, thereby establishing him as a truly nonpartisan force in the overwhelmingly partisan Senate, I also encouraged him to consider taking a stronger stance on a variety of issues to further underscore his reputation as a man of integrity. He struck me as a man who cares about his family and country; he was sincere, often funny, and direct to the point. I left the restaurant feeling good about casting my vote for him in 2007.
If there’s anything I took home from that dinner with Senator Pangilinan, it’s this: we are our own legacy. My kids need to know their dad cared about this country enough to actually do something during and about the elections to affect some kind of change, some kind of break from the “administration” and “opposition,” because these two mean nothing! (Refer to this if you don’t believe me.) While what I’d like to see are new faces whose track records speak for themselves (Justice Reynato Puno, Governor Grace Padaca, Mayor Jesse Robredo, Among Ed Panlilio, I’m looking at you). Because the party system is dead in the Philippines, it has become one big “padrino” system, and candidates run (and win) depending on winnability, notoriety, and whoever endorses them. We need people who are beholden to no one, people who win because the majority of the people agree with her/him on the issues.)
It is because of this that I cannot underscore the importance of the voter education program! We are expecting a minimum of three million new voters this election; that’s a lot of new voters! (It ought to counteract the thousands of dead people who will come out to vote in 2010, oh burn!) The middle class and college-educated need to rise up and do their part in educating the general populace, providing much-needed information on the implications of the padrino system, the vote-buying system, and how government can empower them to live more affluent lives.
If you subscribe to the admittedly unfair but erstwhile true-til-proven-otherwise stereotype that most Filipinos vote on the basis of personality and/or the economics of poverty (i.e., vote for the candidate who gives them money for their vote), and you want this to change, you can make a difference by actively participating in voter education or voter registration programs. You don’t have to campaign for a candidate; you just need to volunteer to help teach first-time voters how to register. While you’re at it, you can then give them, in no uncertain terms, a variety of reasons why their votes count, and why it is important that they vote.
For instance, as a Filipino environmentalist, I would naturally want to know which candidates espouse investment in sustainable energy and national nutrition management resources, nonpartisan agrarian reform, the ethical treatment of animals, responsible natural resource management, and an overhaul of our pathetic urban waste management program.
As a middle-class Christian father, I am also interested in learning of the candidates’ stands on reproductive health and population control, tax reform, justice and national defense, and labor laws.
I imagine my wife would care to hear about the public education system. I think my daughter’s nanny, whose own daughter is sickly, would be interested in learning about their plans for the public health care system.
The cigarette vendor on the street will care about a president’s stand on sin taxes. The farmer will care about agrarian reform. The small business owner will pay attention to greater tax levies. The unemployed father with nine kids will want to hear about job generation. The wife and kids of an OFW will want to know about their thoughts on foreign policy, free trade, international labor laws, and the impact of the growing international economic recession.
How will these people ever learn about the candidates’ stands on the important issues? Through nonpartisan voter education programs! It’s hard to argue with the facts. Plus, for every cynic out there, every doomsday naysayer who says our nation is hopeless, we probably have five to ten people who are so caught up in their own issues to care about what happens to our country. Rather than try to discredit or convince the naysayers, I’d rather work on those five to ten, and convince them to care. The opposite of love is not hate; it’s apathy!
This May, I will find some way to volunteer for a voters’ registration program or a voters’ education program. Come end of the year, once I decide behind whom to throw my support for president and/or vice president, I fully intend to volunteer to help campaign for that candidate. (Haven’t done that since Raul Roco!)
If we don’t care about our government, we will once again have a government that doesn’t care about us. We need to get out there and take a more active role in choosing who leads and makes up our government! Reform starts with us! Integrity starts with us! 2010 is less than 300 days away; don’t wait!
(I would like to thank Nines, with whom I had the pleasure of working in Ateneo’s student government, for affording me the opportunity to meet with Senator Pangilinan. Thanks, too, to his team, including George, Yvette, Anna, and Kate, who made us feel so welcome.)
