By Atty. Howie Calleja
Elections create governments, and governments are catalysts for the kind of change any nation wants its motherland to collectively move forward. In so doing, suffrage becomes socially meaningful when we think and consider what it really means. A VOTE is defined as a formal expression of opinion or choice, either positive or negative, made by an individual or body of individuals. Our choice of government through this 2022 Polls will ultimately dictate the kind of transformation we want to achieve considering all the hardships and public administration mediocrity we all had to endure.
Our nation finds itself again in the crucible of crisis . . . from the mismanagement of our COVID-19 Health Crisis to the lopsided handling of our West Philippine Sea woes. It appears that we are forever in chase of good leaders to pull us out of bad times. Always in need of stretching our hope that finally the dawn of a new day will illuminate our lives, especially those of the poor and the youth. Forever choosing and electing in an unending cycle of elections.
Times of crisis like ours are not night times, times for going to bed and sleeping off our problems. Times of crisis are day times, times to rise up and grab our weapons to battle off our bad times. For 1SAMBAYAN this 2022 Polls is our golden moment to heed the call for good governance at the grassroots level. Our signature weapons: Voters’ Education; Pollwatching and “PINK” Advocacy.
Collectively, we should be the change we want to see through our electoral advocacies which aims to — instill into the voters’ consciousness (for both young and old) that choosing candidates is a moral choice – what is really and objectively right, what is really objectively wrong – not for personal benefit but for the benefit of the country; to animate people’s participation in the electoral process as a necessity for good governance from the grassroots and across all social classes; and to empower our KAKAMPINKS in every Barangay to use the electoral process as a tool for genuine CHANGE and the transformation of our Philippine Society.
Every vote is important. Voting is worthwhile because it is a constitutionally recognized countenance of opinion or choice and offers us with a sense of something bigger than ourselves. Voting can likewise have an enduring and long-term impact on future generations. Our Votes can impact the quality of life of our children, grandchildren and generations to come. We can’t afford not to vote, and we can’t afford for the wrong candidates to win. We can’t afford another political cycle of the same government with the same brand of patchiness and fraud.
