Cliche and irrelevant as it may sound, Jose Rizal's belief that the youth are the hope of our nation never sounds more altruistic than today.
But for all the drama and the posturing that is about to mark the three-month campaign period for the May 12 midterm elections, our political oligarchs have yet to give the youth the message they desperately ask now: what are you going to do to secure the genuine, inclusive change that all Filipinos dream?
Youth power?
It's such a pity that only a handful of the candidates who are currently running for the Senate and the House of Representatives have even the time or the initiative to engage youth voters.
By the way, when we say engage, we mean really talk to them and learn about their own aspirations and dreams, not just herd them off to political rallies in the notorious "hakot" system to give politicians a semblance of popular support.
Consider these statistics compiled by the GMA Network's Integrated News Research division, as posted on their website on February 9: out of the over 69 million registered voters who are eligible to cast their votes this coming May 12, over 68 percent are Filipinos aged 18 to 44.
Here's the breakdown: 25.94 million of the total voting population (or 34.15 percent) come from the "Millennial" generations, born in the period from 1981 to 1996.
Meanwhile, 21.87 million (28.79 percent) are "Gen Z," born in the period from 1997 to 2007, while just over 17.64 million (23.22 percent) are "Gen X," born in the period from 1965 to 1980.
On the other hand, 10.50 million are from the "Baby Boom" and "Silent Generations," born in the 1946–1964 and 1928–1945 periods respectively.
Vested interests in control?
The 2022 elections have given us a clear indicative sample of how the energy and passion of the youth have mobilized them to personally campaign for their candidate of choice, drawing their own money, resources and manpower to counter the well-funded propaganda machinery of traditional politicians.
It remains to be seen whether these youth can still mobilize that energy in the 2025 elections or have become too disillusioned or even cynical of the current situation of the Philippines, especially as it has become apparent that the current political climate is now leaning heavily in favor of vested political interests.
Take, for example, the recent disclosures by the election watchgroup Kontra Daya that more than half of the current candidates for party-list representative don't even represent "marginalized" groups.
According to Kontra Daya convenor Danilo Arao, 86 out of the 156 party-list groups either have links with political dynasties or business groups; have "dubious" advocacies, or "do not provide enough information to the public about their groups."
The proliferation of "overlapping" party-list groups with the same "core advocacy" (probably only salad dressing to hide their real purpose, as what happened with the notorious fake foundations exposed in the 2010's) or even ludicrous names is a symptom of how badly our political landscape has decayed in past elections.
Political survival
And unfortunately, what do our youth voters get from majority of our candidates? A political atmosphere that's centered on vengeance politics and survival of the fittest.
With the Senate deferring the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte until after the elections, the Marcos administration is sure to utilize all the resources at its disposal to ensure that its “Alyansa ng Pagbabago” slate will get a majority, if not the whole available 12 seats in the Senate.
Allies of the Vice President, as well as of former President Rodrigo Duterte, are also all but sure to spend heavily to tip the balance in her favor in the upcoming legal yet political battle.
And we have yet to hear from either of these two former allies turned bitter enemies what do they propose to solve the pressing issues of high prices of basic commodities; a dire economic landscape aggravated by uncertainties on the national and global front; the issues of rapid degradation of our environment; not to mention increasing threats on our sovereignty and integrity as a nation.
Just like the infamous case of Emperor Nero playing music while Rome burns, our political factions have degenerated into playing the same old tunes of “unity” and rehashed campaign promises, while our economic, social and political structure is on the brink of collapse.
The harsh truth is that a government that does not listen to or care for its youth will have no future at all.
And perhaps that's exactly what most of the powers that rule our nation want, based on the principles of so-called "predatory government" – a government that actually benefits from the poor and ignorant masses, because that is the only way they can exert power and control.
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