Youths to offer ‘priority list’ for politicians gunning for top posts in 2022

This file photo shows an SD card that is being inserted to a new vote-counting machine at the San Jose Elementary School in Makati City after a defective VCM delayed proceedings on Election
Day on Monday, May 13, 2019. (Photo by MARIANNE BERMUDEZ / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — The youth arm of an opposition coalition seeks to lay down a list of issues that should be prioritized by politicians who are aiming for the country’s top posts in the May 2022 elections.

The 1Sambayan Youth will be officially launched on September 6, along with the Youth Agenda for 2022. The 1Sambayan is a group that seeks to field a single slate that would challenge President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration in the upcoming elections.

“In brief, the youth agenda calls for improvement in education, social services, peace, economic security, and more,” the 1Sambayan Youth said in a statement Monday.

“The youth coalition has been working with different youth groups, conducting consultations, creating chapters in different regions, sectors, and schools across the archipelago,” the group said.

Currently, the coalition is made up of more than 10 regional chapters, three school-wide chapters, and alliances with at least 10 major organizations and student councils in the Philippines.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio, 1Sambayan chairman, said the youth is the largest voting bloc and it was imperative for them to be heard.

“The next elections will determine the future of our country, which means the future of our youth and the future of our country belongs to our youth,” he said.

Carpio said the 1Sambayan continues its efforts to expand its reach even outside the country. “We have been organizing nationwide. We have over 40 chapters now and growing within the Philippines.”

“We have a little over 20 chapters overseas with our overseas Filipino workers and other Filipinos abroad. The numbers of overseas chapters are also growing. We are discussing with other political parties for them to join the coalition. In fact, we have put together the broadest political coalition since the end of martial law,” he added.