REGISTERING AND voting are not the only ways for the youth to get involved in politics. What the nation needs are registrants who will trust the candidates from the elections to the end of their term.

This was Senator Chiz Escudero’s emphasis during “Sabay sa Bayan: A Series of Leadership and Government Fora.” Escudero stressed the youth’s role in political issues, particularly in the 2010 national elections.

Sabay sa Bayan was the first in a series of leadership forums. Anton Avanceña, one of the project heads, said that talks like this may help the voters in decision-making. “When we think of our candidates, [they seemed difficult to reach]. What we try to do is make them closer to the electorates.”

Held on September 18 at the Colayco Pavilion, the forum was organized by Ateneo Task Force 2010 (ATF), Sanggunian, Media and the Creative Arts Cluster, Youth for Christ-Ateneo and Entablado.

Young presence
Escudero, who insisted on using Filipino throughout his speech, said that 53 percent of the country’s population is comprised of the youth aged 35 and below. Being the majority, the youth has a huge role in developing the country, he said.

Revising Jose Rizal’s famous quote, Escudero said, “Ang kabataan , hindi lamang pag-asa ng bayan, ang kabataan, dapat maaasahan na ng bayan (The youth is not only the hope of the nation, the youth should be the backbone of the nation).”

Escudero said that since the youth normally has more years left to live, they will suffer longer if the older generation fails in running the country. He strongly encouraged the youth to take care of the country’s future as early as now.

“Dapat angkinin na natin ang panahong ito at huwag hayaan ang nakatatanda na pangunahan at diktahin tayo (We have to seize this opportunity and not allow the elders to precede and dictate us),” he said, adding that the youth should not just blindly obey.

He emphasized that every Filipino, despite age, has the knowledge and capacity to run the country. “Being young is never a handicap. Having no experience is not a factor,” he said in Filipino.

Doing more
Escudero said that students, who are privileged enough to get into college, should influence others in doing more for the country. He added that they can help by using their votes wisely and by providing their full support for the next government.

“Just telling the people to register and [to] vote wisely… is a cop out. It cannot end there. You must go out on a limb and support the candidate whoever that may be,” he added.

Avanceña agreed. “When you check the name you’re putting in the ballot, you’re giving him the leadership of your country for six years, [that is why] it is very important to give that person your full trust.”

Escudero added that the youth agenda means proper education and youth participation in national issues. Despite age, Escudero said that the youth could act now and be the medium in mobilizing change.

Educational platform
Although Escudero remained mum on his candidacy, he revealed some of his plans for the future of Philippine education.

“Instead of increasing the requirements [of school, hence] making it more expensive for Filipinos to land a job, they should improve the quality of high school education.”

For Escudero, the government could maximize youth participation by giving importance to education—if “people put their money where their mouth is.”

According to him, governance is all about allocating scarce resources properly. So if the leaders give priority to education and were able to allocate the resources, then they have governed effectively.

The youth agenda
However, Francis Garrido, a sophomore, disagreed with some of Escudero’s claims. He warned that politicians usually have the “proper formula [in] saying the proper things.”

Co-project head Maan Delos Santos however, agreed with Escudero that the youth should step up more, especially since the Sanggunian noticed that awareness still lacks among the young people.

“At first we were worried about the audience, but we saw that there was a need for students to really get to know their candidates,” she said.

Jayvee Chun, marketing head for the series, said that this is only the beginning. The forum is part of a year-long awareness program of the Sanggunian.