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Tik Tak VOTE!
By MERLINA R. HERNANDO
The Manila BULLETIN Online
Amidst the conundrum, the emotional stirrings and the nonstop bickering of politicians due to the upcoming elections, one sector is left pondering in the middle the youth. Unlike before, when the issue is whether 'to vote or not to vote,' nowadays, the dilemma who to vote for in the upcoming national polls is one of the biggest challenges they are facing.
In order to rescue the youth from the quicksand of predicaments, the Network of Campus Journalists of the Philippines (NCJP) recently launched a project billed, Tik Tak VOTE in the different schools, colleges and universities in the country. Tik Tak VOTE the very first involvement of the group in national elections is a 30-day 2004 National Elections Countdown that aims to involve the youth and maximize their participation in the imminent elections.
We consider this as the contribution of our team in nation-building, explains NCJP founding chairman and CEO Lloyd Luna.
Campus journalists have always been considered as the closest source of second-hand information, aside from the media, when it comes to current events. More often than not, students draw ideas from the articles written by their fellow students in their publications when it comes to choosing their candidates. Seeing this pivotal role being played by campus journalists, the program was conceived to empower them to be capable in looking after the entire election process vigilantly.
Guided by a time frame, the strategic election watch will train the campus journalists how to influence people especially the youth to safeguard democracy during the election period. Still, according to Luna, as far as their vision to be the center for effective publication management and campus development is concerned, We believe that there is a need for us to put hands on how the verdict of the Filipino people would most probably go to. And our participation would somewhat assist the voters on how are they're going to choose the next leaders of the country. |
Youth as a beacon of HOPE...
Believing that young campus journalists play a very important role as principal promoters of responsible elections, the very important task of organizing the biggest gathering was placed on the shoulders of Isyrose Surriga, NCR chair of NCJP and the assistant features editor of Ugnayan, the official publication of the Recognized Student Organizations of Adamson University.
Originally, the members of the publication planned to have a youth camp but due to lack of funds, they weren't able to pursue it. Instead of doing nothing during the vacation, the group decided to adopt the proposal.
The first thing I noticed after checking out the activity proposals posted on the Net was the proposal about Tik Tak Vote. After reading it, I realized that since it is very timely, interesting and easy to organize, we decided to implement it in Adamson, she explains. Tik Tak VOTE! will be held in Adamson's OZ AVR today, May 7. The organizers are the staff of the different student publications nationwide and members of NCJP from different chapters. The participants will be a mixture of the students, the faculty, administrators of schools and some out-of-school youth.
Magkakaroon po tayo ng sarili nating elections to get the pulse of the youth kung sinu-sino ang gusto nila iluklok sa pwesto na sisimulan sa Adamson at sa iba pang lugar, says Surriga.
The mock elections with sample ballots, counting of votes and the survey were framed from May 3 to May 7. A total of 200 audiences are expected to attend the event. The student-editors from the different schools are the ones who will conduct the lectures and the symposia. That's one way of empowering them. What we do here is to delegate participants coming from their schools and let them organize and make their own program because they know what is suitable for each community, she enthuses. Among the participating student newspapers are: Ugnayan of Adamson University, Ang Pahayagang Plaridel of De La Salle University-Manila, The Perpetualite of University of Perpetual Help Rizal, Lundayan of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Pasig, Heraldo Filipino of De La Salle University-Dasmarinas, The Guardian of Rizal Technological University, The Defender of Bataan Polytechnic State College, Ang Dalubhasa of City College of Manila, Hudyat of New Era University, The Philippine Artisan of Technological University of the Philippines, University of the Assumption-Pampanga, The USI Facade of Naga City, The Pacesetter of Malolos, The Soil Tiller of San Ildefonso, Bulacan, The Baliuag Chronicle of Baliuag, Bulacan, The Weekly Sillimanian of Dumaguete, Aylap and Mindanao Varsitarian of Mindanao.
When asked what made her decide to pursue the projects, Surriga reveals, Honestly, I'm not a registered voter. I think this is the least I could do to help the youth to decide and to participate in this very crucial undertaking.
The program also aims to train the student-writers to have the capability and the knowledge to explain topics about the elections to common people through a proper and ethical way of speaking and writing and since there is no pre-registration and everybody is invited to come and attend the lectures and discussions.
Byron Vidal, one of the coordinators of the student organizations from City College of Manila believes that the youth should support the program. I am here because I believe that the future of the nation lies on the elections and this should not concern the youth but older people as well.
VOTING THE RIGHT VOTE
Tik tak VOTE not only aims to educate the youth but also to motivate the people to vote for the most intelligent, honest, and conscientious men eligible to office, irrespective of former party opinions.
We are not doing this for any other reason but to fulfill our social responsibilities and since this is the first time that we concluded this kind of project, we are so excited about it and we are looking forward to more developments with regards to empowering the youth by encouraging them to create programs that would benefit their own communities, Luna remarks.
The right to vote for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected and reflected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another, and he that has not a role in the election of representatives is in this case.
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WAGING WAR AGAINST
POLITICAL BICKERING
Being a skin-deep theory of style, political bickering is one of the factors that influences a voter a lot. As much as possible, we want to influence the youth to vote wisely, Luna enthuses. The need to provide a venue where students could interact and discuss their opinions regarding the elections stemmed from the fact that most of the time, the worst officials are elected by good citizens who do not exercise their right to vote.
Having a sense of commitment to develop critical thinking of the Filipino youth through effective campus media and in order to save them from being an easy target of most politicians, NCJP conceptualized the program. The planning and the preparation of the program started last March.
I gave [the student-editors] the concept and the idea. I also suggested tips on how to pursue the project but the implementation and the drafting of the program itself is not really from me. The student-writers in each respective student publication will act as organizers and they are free to draft their own programs and to decide in everything, he divulges.
The projects, whose meetings were held virtually over the Internet, is composed of three phases that includes the organizing of local teams (mostly student journalists) creating subgroups to help the monitoring of the program, the planning and the local launching. Next is the implementation of planned programs and partnering with different groups like GO's and NGO's. Last is the post-evaluation of the project and the drafting of possible next actions that follows up the project.
Basically, what we really want to accomplish is to motivate and encourage the youth especially the student writers to participate in programs like these. We really want to help the community in every single possible way that we could this coming elections by making the youth understand the electoral processes and for them to use their right to vote intelligently.
Tik Tak VOTE is also purposed to conduct written and/or oral voter's education with campus journalists acting as discussants and facilitators. Likewise, it endeavors to publish media materials for press releases, news, features and opinion regarding the preparation of the candidates of their parties.
We also organize youth groups per locality or specific area that shall voluntarily observe the pre-election, election and post-election processes. We also coordinate with parallel groups that push for clean and honest elections, shares the CEO.
The project also thrusts to electronically conduct virtual lectures on elections through the internet on regular basis and to organize debate sessions, essay writing, press conferences and other activities that are youthful in nature.
The responsibilities and accountabilities of the electorate are to be discussed in the Voters' Awareness; the projects and programs that a candidate will be implementing and their strategies to combat societal problems are tackled in the symposium on candidates' platforms. Online lectures on Voter's Education Advocacy were published regularly in the Internet for 30 days. Voter's Education Ads on print and on air, essay writing contests on Election Advocacies, seminars on Election Volunteering and how the youth can physically take part of the election processes.
Believing that the coming elections will determine the future of the nation, the organizers hope that the youth will be willing to fully participate in the project . |
