‘They would rather be on holiday out of town or out of the country. Sometimes they have the guts to claim they don’t even need the government.’
I CAN sympathize with voters who expressed their woes from last Monday. A friend in Parañaque City said that he saw the name of a candidate he would never vote for on his automated voter receipt.
“They just listed my complaint on a sheet of paper,” he said.
How would he know if his complaint was addressed? The reply: “Wala po.”
Another, in Biñan, Laguna, noted the long line, the heat (35 degrees), the absence of ventilation, not even chairs. Then there were the technical problems. The voting machines were too slow, or simply not working.
I saw a woman whose ballot was rejected four times for being “skewed or contaminated.” The offense: the pen accidentally marked — although ever so slightly — the upper right corner of her form. And she had been in line for hours!
To be fair, a couple swore they were “in and out” in less than 15 minutes. A senior citizen in Muntinlupa City said he was done in about an hour. “When I arrived, I was brought to the beginning of the queue,” he said. My wife and I were done in about that time.
Such is the cost of citizenship in this country. That is an entire textbook. For this week, we limit ourselves to voting and registering to vote and what could be done to make it less arduous.
I have no access to data from the other regions, so my information is limited to middle- to upper-middle class National Capital Region, and mostly college-educated. This demographic, I suspect, is where voter cynicism can be very high. They don’t want to vote, or even register, because of the inconvenience, the perception of bureaucratic incompetence and “attitude” and the “poor system.” They would rather be on holiday out of town or out of the country. Sometimes they have the guts to claim they don’t even need the government.
But this is the same demographic we want to be voting because they tend to be better educated, have access to quality information and are perhaps better disposed to critical thinking. Not that they are better citizens than the less educated. We just don’t want to waste such a resource.
After more than four decades of teaching, I learned that one group that should be voting are college students, particularly communication majors. I estimate that only a fifth of my students were registered to vote.
This could not continue, I thought, especially after they graduated and some of them actually became journalists. To me, a non-voting journalist would be like a food critic who writes about the food but never dines. Well there could be a better analogy, but imagine a reporter demanding free press in the name of democracy, but not participating in one of the most important obligations in a democracy.
To make it worse, news consumption, not just newspaper reading, was low. Among future journalists!
So I went for the students’ softest spot: grades. I gave hefty bonuses to those who, during the term, could show proof of voter registration or voting, depending on the time of the year, or, if they were already registered or ineligible to register (by age or citizenship), of “shepherding” a member of their family or a friend to register, with the matching documentation.
Besides being able to vote, the students soon learned that being registered was a weapon they could put to good use in their communities. A number of them who had the need to transact with barangay authorities were frequently asked about their voting precinct. They soon realized that being a registered voter gave them the power to be recognized.
We all know how registration is not any easier than voting. Just like any government transaction, there is always some pain and inconvenience involved. That is why there must be a coordinated and consistent effort among their elders to encourage the youth to register. Motivate and incentivize.
We commend those civic-minded and enterprising businesses that gave election-day discounts to patrons with ink-stained fingernails.
The next voter registration, according to Comelec Resolution No. 11132, takes place in 43 days, on July 1, until July 11 in preparation for the December 1 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections. Yes, the effort that my students this school term put into registering or causing another to register, will still be rewarded. I hope it contributes to their life-long learning skills.
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Gary Mariano taught full time for 35 years at De La Salle University where he once chaired the Department of Communication. A former chair of the Philippine Press Council, he was also a member of the CHED Technical Committee for Journalism. In retirement, he helps promote local media-citizen councils, teaches part time, and serves at Our Lady of Beautiful Love parish.
