..:shades of blue:..

Dec. 9, 2003 On the upcoming presidential elections... Target Audience: Gen-X D�j� vu. The scenario nowadays is no different from past ones. It's six months before the 2004 presidential elections, and politics have completely taken over the entire archipelago. Political bickering, party switching, and (irritating) candidates' advertisements are at its extreme. Even outsiders are feeling the hype, as was exemplified by United Kingdom's recent release of a travel warning against the country, for reasons including, "heightened political tensions". Specialized purpose The hyped up treatment of Filipinos to elections can very well be a gauge of how much weight they place on it. After all, as Rolan Jon Bulao, an Economics student from the University of the Philippines (UP) puts it, elections are "the clearest and most visible form of democratic activity." Public Administration student Charisma Abejar, also from the UP, considers every election as "significant", as it is the time when we choose the people who will determine the country's future. Sometimes, though, certain circumstances have led some elections to serve a more specialized purpose other than to elect qualified leaders for the land. The 1987 Presidential elections for instance, served as a crucial point on whether the Filipinos will be left in the hands of a dictator, or be directed to the path of reformation. The 2001 senatorial elections meanwhile, was a decisive point to legitimize the Arroyo administration, and was to serve as the starting point of the "healing process" of the divided nation. As to whether the persons elected carried out what was expected of them or not is another matter altogether. The 2004 elections seems to be no different from these, as it is about to be held under what appears to be special circumstances once again. Make or Break We are in the circumstances wherein, to paraphrase Conrado de Quiros' words in an article, the upcoming election may be our last chance, for its results may very well, "make or break the country". These circumstances arose from the political, social and economic problems-notwithstanding the government's claim of Gross National Product (GDP) growth-that continue to wobble what is left of the country's stability. The Oakwood mutiny earlier in the year, the Jose Pidal scandal, the Davide impeachment, the NAIA Tower takeover left us in a shaky position. More problems threaten to further weaken the country, as the Betti Chua Sy incident, which brought the kidnapping problems to the forefront. In the papers, the National Statistics Office (NSO) gave a figure of how 4.5M Filipinos are jobless, 540,000 more compared to last year; the government has a standing debt of almost $58B; the peso is barely recovering after it sunk to an all time low of P55.85; the Patriotic Filipino Soldiers of Filipino People (PFSFP) was rumored to be preparing for another coup; JP Morgan was reported to be expecting the budget deficit to amount to P220M this year. Senator and presidential hopeful Panfilo Lacson couldn't have been more correct when he likened the Philippines to a patient in an "Intensive Care Unit." Educated vote The choice on who among the candidates will play the role of a doctor to cure country of its ills, lies in the hand of the electorate. With the youth comprising the bulk of this powerful body, Osias Lim, a Geodetic Engineering student and president of the Alliance of Concerned Dormitories at UP, called on his fellow youth to "actively participate in the polls". Bulao added that we could no longer afford to drag the country down further, so the youth should be "wise" when choosing their candidates. "We should not gamble when choosing the president who will be sitting for the next six years", he said. Meanwhile, award winning broadcast journalist Cheche Lazaro, speaking in a seminar, stressed that the youth "shouldn't just pass off the elections as a futile exercise." She said that instead of taking everything they see and hear at face value, they should take a stand in the coming elections and cast an "educated vote" base on the qualifications, platform, voting record, stand on critical issues and lifestyles of the candidates. As of the moment there are already five presidential hopefuls-the incumbent President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, former Sen. and DepEd secretary Raul Roco, action star Fernando Poe Jr, and that obviously "nuisance" candidate, Atty. Elly Pamatong. Potent Force Lazaro also acknowledged that the youth possess noteworthy qualities including having the energy, active intellect, and ability to mobilize quickly. However, she said that they could be a "more potent force if they were just more focused", the blame for it she placed on the young's multi task behavior and the "dumbing" effect of television. PLDT vice president Butch Jimenez, also speaking in the seminar, admitted that indeed, the youth could be a potent force in the elections, as they are in the "telecommunications industry", classifying their voices as the "strongest" in there. Bam Aquino, National Youth Commission chair,expressed in the same seminar how such would be the case, if only the youth would not succumb to the tendency to "tune off" and be complacent when it comes to politics. He especially cited the case of the youth in the barangay, where, "due to lack of education, they are easily swayed by leaders who don't always think of their best interests." Meawhile, Bulao further addressed his the youth to prove their worth. "We have shown what we can do through EDSA Dos," he said. He added that the youth should assert that worth once more. # | back to writings |

copyright 2004 by jennifer c. estrada university of the philippines diliman, quezon city