‘EVERY VOTE COUNTS’: First-time voters in Panay moved by ‘individual voice’ in 2022 polls

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

For first-time young voters in Panay Island, registering and participating in the 2022 national and local elections is very important.

Commission on Elections (COMELEC) data showed that 3.75 million voters in Western Visayas showed up in the 2019 midterm elections, or 78 percent of the region’s total number of registered voters (4.80 million).

Nationally, the COMELEC expects the number of registered voters to swell to 62 million for the 2022 polls, with 60 million already registered in June 2021.

Similar to previous elections, heads will turn to the youth who accounted for 20.43 million registered voters in the 2019 elections.

Voter’s registration will end on September 30, 2021, and the COMELEC has nixed calls to extend the registration.

Daily Guardian spoke to some members of the youth sector who will vote for the first time in the upcoming elections and discussed what it meant to them.

‘I AM ONE, BUT I AM IMPORTANT’

Mary Angelie Estador, a Broadcasting student at the West Visayas State University (WVSU) in Iloilo City, registered for the 2022 elections in June 2021 in her hometown of Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo.

Estador found the registration process “very easy”, akin to “just listing and presenting details”.

She said she was motivated by two things: her belief that her vote counts, and her mother’s pleading.

“My very first motivation is that, I want my vote to count, because every vote counts. I want us to have a better leader for the next term. That is my wish. My mom is also a barangay official and she really encourages me to vote,” Estador said.

Her kind of leader is one who responds to the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic well, and who “does not have corruption in their blood”.

“First is the pandemic, and how the government can help the people. The people have been complaining a lot, so how will the government address their demands? Secondly, if they are the ones to vote, corruption and graft should not be in their blood. Because that is what irks the people, corruption,” Estador said.

On her belief that every vote counts, Estador said that her vote can change her community.

She added that it is her assurance that she is exercising her right as a Filipino citizen and as a member of her community.

“For me, it will give me an assurance that I am really a Filipino citizen. I have my voice and I have my dignity as a Filipino because I have the opportunity to choose who I want to win and who I want, to give back to the community,” Estador explained.

Youth vote is very important for Estador saying that many have been involved in encouraging voter registration and greater voter’s education.

As a leader in their community, she used to spearhead seminars

“I believe that it’s very important for the youth to vote in this election because the youth has the greatest population here right now, and a lot of schools have been doing a lot of seminars about voting and encouraging us youth to vote. The youth of today is super keen on seeking out voters, so they know if one is compatible to become a leader. The youth has the voice,” Estador said.

ONE SMALL STEP

Alen Benedict Buco, a Political Science student at WVSU, believes that registering and voting is one small step towards change.

Buco, who registered two weeks ago in Kalibo, Aklan, said that his motivation is the current situation, which he says warrants change and improvement in society.

Like Estador, he believes that even a single vote “represents a single voice which can create ripples of change”.

“Registering and voting for the elections is one step ahead towards the bigger goal. One small step can make bigger change even if you’re just one. One can share correct information about a certain person and it can spread exponentially,” Buco said.

For him, it is important to vote because it influences how things will change after June 30, 2022, adding that the youth vote can influence the way older and future generations will live.

He mulled to use more of social media and other “ground-level” means of communication such as text messaging and face-to-face conversations with family and friends.

“For me, it is important to go out and vote because number one, it is our right as citizens. We live in a democracy, it is our right, and we have the power and authority to choose who we think is the right person to lead and serve the country. Second, we need to go out and vote because it will affect us directly and indirectly at the same time. If we do not choose to vote, it’s like we just wasted our opportunity to have change,” he said.

Buco said his kind of leader is one who excels “academically, morally, and professionally”, and one who “stays grounded even after getting the keys to power”.

“If they don’t have that excellence, we won’t have the leadership we are looking for. Next is the integrity, they do what they say they would, and they would do things for the purpose of serving the people even if it goes against their personal views. Another thing is the leader who is always grounded, because when one is in a high position, sometimes they tend to forget where they started and who they are serving, like they get blinded by power,” he said.

LITTLE THINGS

For Shane Diana Laygan, a Biology student at the University of the Philippines Visayas, believes that encouraging people to vote does not end in persuading people, especially the youth.

Already registered since August 2020 in her hometown of Lambunao, Iloilo, Laygan said she is motivated by her right to vote and the current political situation under President Rodrigo Duterte.

She likened voting to saving money, saying that as more votes come in, there is a greater chance of choosing a leader who is fit for the country.

She described the elections as one “which will determine the path the Filipino people would be taking” after Duterte’s term ends.

Her kind of leader is one “who is compassionate, that could represent and listen to the people, who would accept criticism gracefully, who could stand on behalf of the nation in a global platform, and who knows what they’re doing.”

“Given that we are going to have elections most probably in the middle of the pandemic, one of the most pivotal elections that we will have, since we will be coming out of the Duterte regime. The Philippines really went downhill during this term. So, the next elections will determine if what kind of path we will be taking after that. Would we be going through the same path of violence, corruption, and injustice? Or towards a better Philippines?” Laygan said.

Laygan said that she would continue to have conversations with people in her community and in her circles online, and even exert efforts to reach out to other people “in any way she can”.

She admitted the difficulty in convincing people in the seams of society to choose a leader who will truly fight for them, citing challenges in physical outreach.

But she also expressed preparedness to campaign hard “for the leader who will define her generation and the next”.

“Voting is our right. We are a democratic country. The people have a say in the kind of leaders we should have and the kind of treatment that we should get, and I think a lot of us don’t realize that and that fact mostly remains in hindsight. I think voting itself dictates the kind of Philippines that we live in the next 6 years,” she said.