Ten days before the May 2010 polls, Kabataan Partylist held a “Youth March” and motorcade-sortie from the main office of the Commission on Elections in Intramuros to Mendiola Bridge to announce that “the youth is more than ready for the 2010 elections.”

Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raymond Palatino said that with ten days to go, “the trip towards change starts from the gates of the Comelec to the Mendiola Bridge.”

“Today, the youth has three main messages. To Comelec, we say, we are ready, are you? To Malacanang, we bid goodbye and good riddance. To the youth, especially first-time-voters, let us go out and vote for change in government,” Palatino said.

Are you ready, Comelec?
“Handang-handa na ang mga Kabataan para bumoto at magbantay ng boto sa May 2010. Ang COMELEC ba, handa na?” said Palatino,

“We will not allow an automated Hello Garci to happen. We need further assurance from the Comelec that everything is truly in place especially now that they have rejected with finality the option for parallel manual canvassing,” he said.

Palatino also called on the Comelec to make sure that there will be no disenfranchisement of first-time-voters, especially those who registered during the voter registration extension period.

“We cannot emphasize enough that the more than 250,000 first-time-voters who registered during the extension are not mere ‘supplement voters’ and should be given the same priority on Election Day as any other registered voter.”

Goodbye, Gloria
From Comelec, the youth groups embarked on a motorcade towards Mendiola Bridge where they held a short program.

“Perhaps the main reason why the youth are excited for the elections is because it would mark the first step towards ensuring that Arroyo, her family and her minions leave Malacanang. There can be no significant change in government until Arroyo finally steps down and is held accountable for all allegations of corruption, human rights violations and plunder,” Palatino said.

Go out and vote
At 5:00 in the afternoon, the youth groups once again converged at the Welcome Rotonda to end the day with Kabataan Partylist’s every Friday noise barrage dubbed, “Youth Watch Fridays”.

“The youth will stay vigilant. Let this serve as a message that the youth are ready to guard and defend the polls to ensure that a new government will be installed on May 10.”

Today’s noise barrage is the fourth installment of every Friday noise barrages held by youth groups nationwide.

On May 6, youth groups will once again gather for a “Mass for Clean and Honest Elections.” ###