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MANILA, Philippines – With all the noise on social media, schools should do better to keep the Filipino youth socially aware, especially amid election season, a youth advocate says.
A contestant on It’s Showtime saying she wasn’t knowledgeable about the Commission on Elections (Comelec) sparked conversations about voters’ education among the youth, and whether it was the contestant’s fault she wasn’t aware about the government entity that regulates the Philippine elections.
University of the Philippines (UP) Student Regent Francesca Duran said on the sidelines of a forum on elections transparency on Wednesday, March 5, that schools have a part to play when young people are unexposed to political and societal information.
“‘Yung mga schools natin, dapat actively din sini-seek to engage ‘yung mga students, actively din open sa mas matuto about political issues, social issues. Hindi naman din puwedeng school lang ‘yung school, pero avenue pa din siya para mas maging mulat ‘yung estudyante,” Duran told Rappler.
(Our schools should actively seek to engage our students, and be actively open to teach them about political and social issues. School should not simply be for schooling — it’s an avenue for students to be more socially aware.)
There are around 20 million Gen-Z voters registered in the 2025 elections, according to the Comelec.
Pre-occupied
A clip of “Sexy Babe” contestant Heart Aquino went viral after host Vice Ganda asked what her message was to the Comelec, and Aquino said she was not familiar with it. She said her family did not have a television at home, and the agency did not seem to show up on her social media news feed.
The Comelec invited her to visit and tour the poll body’s headquarters in Manila on Tuesday, March 4. There, Comelec officials, including Chairman George Garcia, introduced the Comelec and what it does.
When Aquino spoke to reporters after her enlightenment about the poll body, she also talked about losing her parents at an early age and having to provide for her sibling and grandmother.
According to Arwin Serrano, national coordinator of poll watchdog Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), it is likely that circumstances like Aquino’s lead to a shift in priorities in the content young people consume.
“Kung kumukuha siya ng information sa social media, siyempre ang mas tutok siya, siguro ‘yung mga related doon sa kanyang tinatahak na career. At hindi niya siguro na pinapansin ‘yung mga ibang mga aspeto na kahit na mahalaga like eleksyon,” Serrano told Rappler.
(If she gets her information from social media, then she would likely be more focused on things related to her career. And she probably doesn’t notice other things that are also important, like the election.)
Duran said that young people have different attitudes towards being politically engaged. For her, as a student of UP, her social environment enables her to be politically involved, but other youth with an aversion to being “woke” could be this way because of their upbringing or environment.
According to digital media researcher Fatima Gaw, structural issues in the political news ecosystem influence people’s news exposure on social media. The dwindling number of news media organizations, whether economically struggling or suppressed by the government, affects supply of news.
“On the demand side, it is possible that young people have not been socialized to consume political information whether it be at home or in school, so they don’t really actively seek news or political content,” Gaw said in an email to Rappler on Friday, March 7.
Could stories like Aquino’s serve as a wake-up call for social media platforms to put more balance into algorithms? Gaw is not so optimistic.
“Social media platforms are private, commercial organizations and I doubt that it is in their interest to engage in politics, especially in a country like the Philippines where they are not subject to a lot of regulation or scrutiny,” she said.
Gaw said voter education should come from news media, civil society, and other community groups, and they must be innovative in the way they reach out to young people in ways that resonate with them.
Part of culture?
Like Aquino, many young people are forced to begin working early to provide for their families. Comelec Chair Garcia in the Wednesday forum said this may make them susceptible to vote-buying.
“Siguro dapat mas mapataas natin ang pang-unawa ng mga kababayan nating kabataan kung ano ang importansya nitong halalan…. Ang tanong, bakit ang kabataan ngayon pa lang tumatanggap ng pera?” said Garcia.
(We should heighten our youth’s understanding of the importance of this election…. The question is, why are Filipinos accepting [vote] money at a young age?)
“Something is wrong with that. Kasi nangangahulugan na nagiging parte ng ating kultura, at kapag naging parte ng ating kultura, napakahirap tanggalin no’n,” he added. (Because this means that it is becoming part of our culture. And if it becomes part of our culture, it will be difficult to remove it.)
Serrano, meanwhile, said that young people who see popular candidates in surveys may also tend to vote for them. The same attitude is reflected in older generations of voters.
Still, Serrano said that Aquino’s viral clip, while attracting critics and even bashers, could have been a “blessing in disguise” as an opportunity to share what she learned.
After touring the Comelec, Aquino said she was open to using her platform to spread awareness about the elections and to tell her generation to vote wisely.
“Alamin po natin at mag-vote tayo nang wisely. Para din sa atin ‘yun eh. ‘Yun din ‘yung na-realize ko, na ‘wag balewalain ‘yung nangyayari sa paligid natin at mas mabigyan natin ng focus,” she said, addressing fellow youth.
(We should be more aware and vote wisely. That is for us. That is also what I realized, that we should not dismiss the things that are around us, and we should focus on these.) – Rappler.com
