Ours is a country of “bobotantes” with some wise enough to feign foolishness, but, more important, more and more are wiser enough to try and try until change happens. If the electorate cares less about voter education, that is part of the challenge. That is why voter education should be sustained, not just when elections are approaching.
Voter education is an ongoing campaign that serves as preparation for the upcoming elections. We utilize non-election years to promote physical and e-resources and forums that will broaden voters’ understanding of the democratic process, as discussed in this space last year. (https://tutubi.ph/who-should-we-not-vote-for-anak-no-singit-too/)
In the Philippines where one in five high school graduates can hardly understand a simple story, 18 million of them “functionally illiterate” (PSA, 2025), voter education will be more effective if all sectors—government, the traditional media, civil society, and the citizens—work together to strengthen voter participation and decision-making.
Although people meet the criteria of the Commission on Elections to vote, we still think that these voters need to be updated by fact-checking organizations that also play a role in helping to ensure that candidates and their platforms are not just based on propaganda, but on real data and facts. (https://tutubi.ph/anyare-mahina-ang-voter-education-malakas-ang-propaganda/) It is important to provide voters with access to accurate information to combat mis/disinformation.
Several higher education institutions and media organizations have consistently launched campaigns to teach voters how to check the credibility of the information they see, hear, or read, but chronic obstructions exist from within. There is a dire need to include those from their academic and journalistic ranks as the target audience of voter education.
The rotten ones are not disappearing from their ranks! And if the problem is already taking root, they must be uprooted and continue planting good seeds. What we thought at a conference is that these academic personnel and media workers will gradually be dismantled from respected institutions until they are relegated to a pushover position (pipitsugin) and lose their clout.
Continuing the planting of good seeds of voter education, the esteemed individuals and institutions will maintain a positive outlook that their patriotic dealings are sufficient and appropriate to be able to instill goodwill among families and patrons who will return the favor by giving their contributions to building a more progressive and decent society.
Above all, we implore the aid of Almighty God to effect change in us this May and in subsequent polls. Deuteronomy 1:13 tells us: “Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you.”
Choose the best. Be wiser enough.
We repeatedly ask: “Why is it that after so many elections, our standards haven’t gone up?” (Mega Scene, 2016). All of us need to change from within—within our hearts and minds—and it has to be a holistic approach to thinking, integrating emotions with intellect, not viewing them as separate entities.
Kung sports lang sana ang lahat
Back in the day, I always won when I read articles by Dennis Eroa, a seasoned sports journalist. As early as the elims, the teams I supported seemed very much okay to be out of the picture, or out of bounds, because of balanced (sports) news, fearless views he and his newspaper kept on saying. Isang coach nga eh tanda kong galit na galit din sa nasulat niya pero naipagtanggol naman si Dennis ng editor niya. Surely not a libel case to prosper. With the stack of details, it’s as if he has taken you to the arena when you read his action-packed articles in the leading broadsheet, the Inquirer.
Our condolences and prayers to the family and friends of Matias Dennis Urlanda Eroa (February 24, 1965 – April 30, 2025).
DC Alviar
Professor DC Alviar serves as a member of the steering committee of the Philippine International Studies Organization (PHISO). He was part of National University’s community extension project that imparted the five disciplines of a learning organization (Senge, 1990) to communities in a local government unit. He writes and edits local reports for Mega Scene. He graduated with a master’s degree in development communication from the University of the Philippines Open University in Los Baños. He recently defended a dissertation proposal for his doctorate degree in communication at the same graduate school under a Philippine government scholarship grant. He was editor-in-chief of his high school paper Ang Ugat and the Adamson News.
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- DC Alviar#molongui-disabled-link
- DC Alviar#molongui-disabled-link
- DC Alviar#molongui-disabled-link
