The Kabataang Liberal ng Pilipinas, the youth wing of the Liberal Party, with its partner, Student Leaders Forum (SLF) praised the Filipino youth for its active participation and interest in the just-concluded midterm elections last 14 May 2007.
“Aside from the many first-time voters who enthusiastically exercised their rights last May 14, we’re happy in the level of overall interest in the election among young people, particularly in the importance of the right to vote and what the youth can do to help safeguard the ballot,” Ace Gomez, SLF chairman, said.
Gomez pointed out that aside from casting their votes, many young people volunteered for electoral watchdogs like the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV).
Gomez also said that the large number of viewers of the blog put up by SLF as part of its voter’s education campaign showed that many young people were interested in the vote. The blog, http://www.getinvolved.wordpress.com, garnered more than 12,000 hits since it went up last 29 May 2007.
“We were very impressed with the traffic the blog was receiving,” Eric Caliboso, KALIPI executive director and project director for SLF’s info campaign, said. “We can only assume that young people were very interested in knowing about the elections, like more information on the candidates, what to do when casting one’s vote, and how to protect their votes.”
“Now that the elections is over, its time to tackle other important issues for the youth,” Caliboso added. He said that SLF, KALIPI, and its other partner organizations will now look into ways to reform the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) and the promotion of blogging as a tool for issue advocacy campaigns (end).
Get Involved: Exercise Your Right to Vote 