MANILA, Philippines?It?s either black or white. To the youth, there are no gray areas. No compromises. No lesser evils. It?s good against bad.
This idealism makes young people ideal voters and it is important to encourage them to register before October 31 and vote in the 2010 elections, Jaime Garchitorena, Youthvote Philippines convener, said.
?We should get them involved. This is a demographic we have to listen to,? said 41-year-old Garchitorena, a former actor and president of an information technology training company.
Last year, his group of five core members thought of putting up a website (www.youthvotephilippines.com) to encourage young people to get involved in choosing their leaders. Although still a work in progress, the political information portal has reached close to half a million people so far, he claims.
Garchitorena said the advocacy targets those aged between 18 and 35 who form the bulk of the country?s estimated 92 million population. If all qualified voters will register, the youth vote will form half of the projected 40 million voters in 2010, he said.
Sought for comment, Elections Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said the youth vote so far comprises an estimated nine million votes. He is hoping more new voters would register before registration ends on October 31.
Garchitorena, eldest son of the late former Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Francis Garchitorena, said the recurring theme in the comments they received was the hope that the elections of 2010 would be an avenue for change, Garchitorena said.
He said young people ?have a very real concept of failure in governance.?
Grade school students see piles of uncollected garbage. High school students experience air pollution and see busted street lamps. College students fall prey to robbers. Fresh graduates find it hard to get jobs.
Those from well-off families and young professionals driving their own cars complain of traffic jams.
Garchitorena said: ?These are experiences of the inefficiencies of the government in different forms. Once you talk about it, you are engaging someone in a political discussion.?
The website offers instructions on how to register as a voter.
The website also seeks to guide voters in choosing their leaders by profiling presidential aspirants based on the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The website?s final form will emerge after the filing of certificates of candidacies in November.
Youthvote Philippines will mark its first anniversary on September 20 with two major activities.
On September18, it will hold in Batangas a simulation of filling out a ballot for the automated election. Garchitorena designed a four-page ballot listing 225 choices for various questions to be administered to students based on the ballot the Commission on Elections (Comelec) plans to use next year. The goal is to be able to time how long it takes to fill out the ballot the Comelec plans to distribute.
But since the advocacy is nonpartisan, Garchitorena?s sample ballot asks simple questions instead of positions, like asking students to shade the circles corresponding to the 12 national heroes they want to be reincarnated, instead of asking them to vote for senators.
The second activity is a forum of presidential aspirants on September 26, a joint project with the United Nations and the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap).
