‘One Good Vote’ launched; youth urged to vote in 2016

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines – As the country gears up for the upcoming 2016 presidential polls, the Commission on Elections and church-based groups are calling on the youth to register and take part in the electoral process next year.

Gildu Agoncillo, election officer of Dumaguete City, stressed that if all the young people of voting age participated in the 2016 polls, that alone is enough to elect a president.

Agoncillo was speaking in a convocation at the Foundation University during the official launching of the “One Good Vote” campaign in Negros Oriental.

He said of the country’s total registered voters of 54 million, 37 percent of or 20 million comprise youth voters.

He told the students that their vote matters and that they are already considered as politically mature to decide who to choose as their next set of leaders.

Agoncillo cited the idealism of the youth, who at their young age, do not yet have any affiliation with political candidates or leaders and are not as easily swayed by the ills of dirty politics. He also told them to not be a political bystanders or impatient idealists, but instead register and vote in 2016.

The Comelec conducted an on-site registration at the Foundation University campus during the convocation as part of the voters’ education of the said university.

Meanwhile, the One Good Vote campaign of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) was officially launched during the convocation with Msgr. Julius Heruela leading the simple ceremony.

Heruela, PPCRV local chair and convener of the Diocesan Electoral Board of the Diocese of Dumaguete, asked the students to download the online One Good Vote app to compatible mobile phones so they will be updated with the 2016 elections.

The priest also disclosed that part of the campaign is to find one sitio or sub-village in Negros Oriental to pilot the same, and another one in Siquijor province, which is still part of the coverage of the Diocese of Dumaguete.

Students who will volunteer for the campaign will be trained and fielded to these pilot sub-villages to go to one house to the next to discourage vote-buying, said Msgr. Heruela.

Families who make a commitment to back the campaign will have a sticker pasted on their home identifying them as a supporter of the One Good Vote advocacy.

The PPCRV targets 86 sitios nationwide as pilot areas for the One Good Vote, Heruela said.

He explained that vote buying used to involve individual voters but the current trend shows that an entire sub-village or even a village is being “bought” by crooked politicians and political candidates.

Vote buying is a sin, he warned. Nowadays, it is no longer the rule of the people but money instead that speaks, especially during the election season, he added.

Also present during the convocation was Tess Tejero of Dilaab Foundation Inc., a church-based  movement that promotes the LASER test for voters to decide on to who vote for during the elections based on values and realistic criteria.

LASER stands for guide questions on Lifestyle, Accomplishments, Supporters, Election Conduct and Reputation of a political leader or candidate that a voter must thoroughly consider before voting for that person.

Msgr. Heruela said the sub-village to be adopted for the One Good Vote in Negros Oriental would most likely be in Valencia town although it has not been finalized yet. –  /JMD