Blog. Tweet. Advocate.
These are just simple ways young voters can help the Commission on Election (Comelec) in ensuring that the polls will be clean and honest come May 13.
“Help the Comelec by reporting violations that you see. Help the Comelec by voting,” Jimenez told students who attended Yahoo! Southeast Asia’s Purple Thumb senatorial forum on Thursday.
Speaking to students from the University of the Philippines in Quezon City, Jimenez encouraged voters to actively campaign for the candidates of their choice.
“Try to help the campaign as much as you can. What does that mean? You don’t have to go there and actually talk for them, but you can talk to friends,” Jimenez told scholars of UP.
The Comelec official even pushed netizens to enumerate their reasons for campaigning against a particular candidate, using a blog or even on Facebook.
“You can tell friends: ‘This is why I think this candidate should win.’ Conversely, you can campaign negatively against other people that you don’t like,” he added.
“Write a blog. Tweet. Put it on Facebook… Be an advocate for that candidate to make sure that your choice becomes a viable choice for everyone else not just for you,” Jimenez noted.
He also urged young voters to maximize the use of social media in reporting candidates who commit violations.
“Make sure that your candidate stays honest. Don’t just report the candidates you don’t like. Report the candidates you like as well,” Jimenez said.
“All candidates are human, even the ones we like. So if they stray from the path a little, help them by reporting them (because) they won’t be disqualified right away,” he clarified.
Jimenez explained reporting candidates for campaign violations would be an opportunity for politicians to correct their wrong campaign practices.
But the Comelec spokesperson reiterated that encouraging other people to go out and vote is the best way young voters can do to make May polls more meaningful.
“Remember that the bad officials in the government, they are elected by the good people who refuse to vote,” Jimenez said.
“So above everything else, above helping the Comelec, above helping your candidates, advocate participation in clean elections,” he added.
