right to vote

They say the sincerest sign of democracy is election; that is, having the freedom to vote for people whom you think are capable of "serving" the country. take note, i used the term "serving" the country rather than "running" the country; there is a huge difference.

i'm turning 23 years old a few days from now yet, even though i've been old enough to vote a few years back, i denied myself from practicing my right. during the last presidential election, i was 17 turning 18 a few days after election date (May 11) that's why i wasn't able to register. as for succeeding elections, i just invoked my right NOT to vote. seeing the current events happening in our country is just too depressing that my will and belief that my vote counts seemed to diminish. everyday, news of blatant vote buying,crimes that are politics-related such as bank robbery and murders here and there, are heard in every means of media there is. these news made me feel that voting isn't just worth the effort for me to go down the precinct and vote candidates who i think deserve to be elected. besides, i am just one vote. had ballot switching occurred in our city, then my ONE vote would be useless.

then i saw the ad of ABS-CBN, "Boto Mo, Ipatrol Mo". sure this is another gimmick for their ratings to go up or it's their way of making sure they're the station who gets the latest scoop to be reported, but their ad did make sense, at least for me. it has been proven, that media is a very powerful tool - be it used in a good way or not. so powerful in fact, that in our history, twice it had been that media was used to kick a president out of malacanang. i think, this campaign really aims to empower the people who are hesistant to report election events that they believe are wrong and deserve to be flashed in the news. especially now that spreading news is easy as spreading the h1n1 influenza virus due techy modalities such as cellphones and digicam, voters will feel less fear if they want to report discrepancies on their precinct.

i have until October to be an official registered voter and i have yet to look for a BMIM's kiosk so that i can participate on their campaign. maybe this time around, media will be put to good use. i encourage everyone, especially the young ones (like me of course ^_^) who are eligible to vote, not only to be a registered voter but also to participate in BMIM's campaign. in our own little way, we could make a difference (what an Oprah statement. haha).

lastly, i'll quote US president Barack Obama, "YES WE CAN." (if Obama was able to do it, so can we.)

*** pics were from these sites:

botomoipatrolmomultiply

youthvotephilippines blogsite