Don’t boo. Vote. – Pres. Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States of America
This was delivered by Pres. Obama during the 2016 Democratic National Convention. In his words, booing can’t stop the election of then Presidential candidate Donald Trump as 45th President of the United States (POTUS).
In the Philippines, the election of Rodrigo Duterte in 2016 as President of the Republic stirs strong emotions among both supporters and opponents. This unprecedented political polarity that lingers for years is evidently worsened and manifested in social media. The emotions are already in stratospheric level, primarily stemmed from the government’s no-direction,-no-plan reactionary response against COVID-19 that resulted to more than two hundred thousand (200,000+) infection cases, with about almost four thousand (4,000) deaths. Not to mention the low morale of our medical and essential front liners.
This situation is exacerbated by the contraction of economy by 16.5% and with an unemployment rate of 45.5% that translates to around 27 million jobless Filipinos. This is a new record high since March 2012.
On the other hand, the way the government behaves is clearly not in response to pandemic – the closure of the media giant with about 11,000 jobs relying on it, prioritization of the passage of Anti-Terror Law, and most recently, the corruption in country’s public health insurance.
Now that the voter registration is open, it is imperative for young ones to register and cast their voice in National Local Elections in 2022. The call should saturate the social media world to remind the aghast citizens to channel their rage to their local COMELEC offices. Our consensus to take back the country from tyrannical rule and the insensitivity of the government to people’s plight should start with the first step: be an eligible voter.
The narrative of this country can be redeemed if we have more young voters and better leaders.