THE worsening corruption of the country’s elections under the cover of a democratic system will again take a heavy toll not only on both the candidates and voting populace for the 2025 election but in the next administration of the local government.

Already high in the minds of voters during the filing of certificates of candidacies by prospective candidates is the anticipation of many voters of opportunities to receive cash and goodies from candidates, instead of looking forward to opportunities to be enlightened on how their communities can enjoy better security, better economy, and better social life.

It’s common knowledge that what brings about this rampant illegal activity is the intense determination of candidates to win, that dole-outs of money and grocery items are the way to go, not pledges of good governance.

If the voting populace continues to embrace this traditional “buy-and-sell” campaign activity, this mindset will again lead to wider disregard of reports of corruption by the people voted into office.

It is these dole-outs that make the populace to turn a blind eye to grand scales of corruption in government because of the accepted norm that the winners who didn’t have the means to “buy-and-sell” votes are justified to recover their expenses.

This mindset must change today for the sake of future generations.
In this regard, volunteers from the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) must come forward and organize to engage their elders in discussions on programs that failed, programs that succeeded in developing their communities and needed priority programs for their communities.

It should be these discussions that candidates should be confronted in a series of debates that the SK should sponsor before the official start of the campaign period on February 11, 2025.
Let the SK lead their communities in educating the voting population to begin to focus on governance issues instead of choosing candidates who gave the most cash and goodies.

Our prospective candidates in turn will hopefully learn to refocus their campaigns on programs of governance instead of merely preparing for cash and goodies dole-outs.

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