VOTING in American Idol. Campaigning for Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle for the Papacy. Voting for a Pinoy to be CNN Hero of the Year. Participating in the Philippine and US Presidential elections.
What compels Filipinos to momentarily drop what they are doing and deviate a little from their everyday routine in life (be it work, household chores, their scheduled viewing of a favorite teleserye, sports event, etc.) just to be able to campaign for a candidate or a cause, and actually go out and vote?
The headlines of this week and the recent years prompted me to reflect on this question.
In anticipation of the papal conclave that would elect the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Filipinos were energized by reports that our very own Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle is in the unofficial list of cardinals, who are rumored to be the candidates for a potential successor to Pope Benedict XVI.
Kababayans all over the world have been expressing their excitement about the possibility of a Filipino becoming the next Pope in dinner table family conversations, talks in local sari-sari stores and via social media.
As The Filipino Channel’s Balitang America reported last Monday, kababayans pushing for Cardinal Tagle have been campaigning for him online, American Idol-style with a music video.
The 55-year-old Manila Archbishop is now on Facebook with more than 125,000 followers — and the number continues to rise.
Many of these followers have reportedly been very vocal about their support for Cardinal Tagle.
The website “Batangas Varsitarian” has also been campaigning for several weeks now, asking people to flood social media (like Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to campaign for Tagle.
The website was reported to ask people to contact other cardinals, who are part of the conclave and are in a position to elect the next Pope.
As we showed on Balitang America, part of the campaign for Tagle was the creation of a music video (set to the tune of Village People’s popular 70s disco song, YMCA). This video has been reported to receive worldwide attention.
Of course, whether or not these campaign efforts would have an impact in the Cardinals’ election of the next Pope is the question.
But surely campaigning and voting for a Filipino by kababayans worldwide have served their purpose in the past.
Take “Kariton Kid” Efren Peñaflorida, who became CNN Hero of the Year. Jasmine Trias and just last year, Jessica Sanchez on American Idol are also great examples!
Filipinos all over the world and in the Philippines were glued to their TV screens. They campaigned and voted for Jessica Sanchez via phone, online and all other means possible to make sure she wins. Because of their efforts, Jessica placed second to Phil Philips in last year’s season.
How electrified are Filipinos in participating in political civic exercise, such as in very consequential national elections?
While the 38 million Filipinos of the 50.7-million registered voters in 2010 actually voted in the 2010 Philippine Presidential elections, this 75 percent voter turnout represents only kababayans who registered and voted. These figures did not reflect those who may have been eligible to vote but did not register.
This 2010 voters turnout rate, however, was smaller by 2 percentage points compared to the 2004 voters turnout rate of 77 percent — representing 33.5 million actual voters out of 43.5 million registered voters.
The numbers are even more disappointing among Filipinos living abroad.
According to the data from the Department of Foreign Affairs, only 81,732 overseas Filipinos voted from April 10 to May 7. This is just less than 14 percent of the total 589,830 overseas Filipinos registered to vote in the 2010 national elections.
Again, there may be more kababayans living abroad who might have been qualified to vote, but chose not to register.
This dismal turnout would cast a shadow of doubt on the impact of the recent victory of community leaders living abroad, who fought hard for the reinstatement of the voting rights of some 238,000 overseas Filipinos.
Last week, the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) voted to reinstate over 238,000 overseas Filipino voters, who were earlier delisted for failing to vote in two consecutive elections in the Philippines.
I remember Balitang America asked a question on our daily poll Isyu Ngayon, about which poll Fil-Ams would vote in: the US presidential election or American Idol. American Idol won!
Surely, other factors may have come into play in the Filipinos’ zeal (or lack thereof) to participate in national elections. Many complained how hard and inconvenient it is to register and vote.
Others lack awareness and information on the electoral process.
Still, there are many who feel that their votes do not matter, given the perceived hopeless and pathetic state of politics in the Philippines.
Of course, there are those who are just plain apathetic or apolitical.
But imagine if Filipinos in the motherland and around the world would have the same fire and passion to vote in national elections as they have for American Idol. That would be great and powerful!
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
