To: Commision on Elections (Comelec)

From: Kabataan Partylist

Re: Petition Moving for Comelec to Extend Registration for First Time Voters from October 2009 to Original Deadline of December 2009.

To the Honorable Commissioners:

In every election, various political candidates of all shades have tried to court the youth vote. US Pres. Barack Obama’s victory, for instance, was clinched largely by the massive endorsement of American voters under the age of 25. In the Philippines, past elections and statistics have proven that just half of the so-called youth vote can seal a seat for an aspiring candidate.

Such is the power of the youth that we can set the tone and agenda for 2010 – and with such power comes the challenge for us to actively assume our rightful role in society as catalysts for change.

The youth vote comprises almost 20 percent of the entire voting population in the country. By sheer numbers alone, it is clear how active youth participation is decisive and real in nation-building, good governance and social change.

Yet, various factors have hindered the youth from participating in the elections. In 2007, 75 percent of young Filipinos were unable to register and vote due to the short period alloted for registration and lack of a massive nationwide campaign for voters’ registration.

At present, there is a shortage of satellite registration sites situated in schools and youth-populated communities and barangays. We believe that the easiest and most encouraging way for the youth to register is to bring registration closer to them.

Kabataan Party-list has been receiving a steady stream of reports and complaints from Sangguniang Kabataan officials, student councils and community-based youth organizations that satellite registrations being held in their areas are too limiting.

The problem is the Comelec is imposing a per day quota for every satellite registration. We have had complaints, for instance, that an SK managed to gather as many as a thousand (first-time voters), only to have the Comelec shut down its machines and pack up after 200 new registrants. Their reason is that the machines cannot handle the numbers. Add this factor to the also limited number of machines and the time-consuming process of applying for satellite registration.

It is in this light that Kabataan Party-list delivers a very strong appeal to the Commission on Elections to aid in empowering the youth by extending the registration period for first time voters from October 2009 to its original deadline date of December 2009.

There is no denying, however, that Philippine elections is one of the dirtiest and most violent in Asia and the world. Cheating and vote-buying are rampant, while other prevailing conditions make election period a highly disenfranchising experience for many voters, both young and old. Thus, we fully understand moves by your agency to instill radical changes in our country’s electoral system.

Still, elections should be a democratic process where all Filipinos can register their voice, the sanctity of the ballot honored and respected. As this country’s young generation, we demand no less.

We fail to see how voters’ registration should compromise preparations for the automation of polls. These two, registration and automation, should not be pitched against each other. Poll automation is no reason to cut short the registration period.

A shortened registration period would entail depriving a significant number of first-time voters their right to vote, especially since we have garnered from experience that most opt to register during the Christmas vacation.

If your kind agency sincerely wishes to reform and restructure our electoral process, it should instead prioritize on how to generate more active youth and citizen participation in the upcoming elections. A shortened registration period limits, if not, discourages active youth participation in the elections. Without which, machines, however well-oiled, would be useless.

Thank you very much.

Kabataan Party-list, on behalf of its constituents and allied youth organizations nationwide, sincerely pray that Comelec would take this petition into serious consideration.

Signed:

(sgd)

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raymond “Mong” Palatino