A YOUNGER and more enlightened electorate will end political dynasties and traditional politics in a few more years.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) chairperson and senatorial candidate Teddy Casiño made this prediction yesterday, speaking on Morning Matters on TV5.
Going on a national campaign for the 2025 mid-term elections, the former Bayan Muna party-list representative said more and more people acknowledge the need for genuine representation in all levels of government. He said this tolls the eventual death of political dynasties and patronage politics.
Nowhere is the shift of opinion sharper than among young voters as shown by their rejection of senatorial candidates coming from old political families and party-list groups with celebrity nominees.
Casiño cited mock polls and preference surveys in various universities in Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao, where participating students picked progressive candidates.
Casiño noted that invariably, the results were a near shutout for senatorial candidates belonging to the administration ticket of Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas supported by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and that of PDP-Laban supported by the Duterte family.
“If you look at all the university surveys, all the surveys that involve the young people, the top choices are always those from the genuine opposition, those who are not part of political dynasties. I have been consistently in the top 12,” he said.
Casiño, a writer and humans rights activist, said the reform platform offered by the progressive bets resonate better with the young voters who have realized that each election has a lasting impact on their own futures.
However, he admitted that influential political families and candidates supported by big money interests are too well entrenched at the moment for real change to materialize.
He acknowledged that the youth vote has not manifested itself as political machineries and vote-buying outmuscled the people’s will.
“Maybe not in 2025, maybe not in 2028, but in the future as long as we are always there every election sending out this message that we need a meaningful change, that the people need genuine representation in the Senate,” he said.
At the moment, he said, the achievable objective is to reach as many young voters as possible to point out the failings of traditional politics.
“There will come a time that majority of the voters are exposed to these ideas and there will be victories along the way. We are under no illusion that 2025 is the year we will change the whole Senate. But not joining at all is not a choice if you want to create change,” he said.
