TV show contestant gets invite to tour Comelec
If the Filipino youth is the hope of the motherland, as national hero Dr. Jose Rizal put it, what to make of those who seemed to be out of touch with issues confronting society?
For the Commission on Elections (Comelec), rather than finding fault with their non-involvement or lack of knowledge, they should be educated with empathy.
Comelec Chair George Garcia on Monday took responsibility for the public’s seeming lack of awareness about the poll body and its mandate in ensuring free, orderly, honest, peaceful and credible elections.
The Comelec, he said, is set to welcome for a guided tour today at its central office in Manila a television show contestant who recently went viral and received public backlash after admitting she only had an inkling about the poll body and its work.
“We fully understand her,” Garcia said of 20-year-old Heart Aquino of Pampanga. “There may be more young people or Filipinos who are like her. It is our solemn duty to explain who we are and what we are doing.”
His invitation came after Aquino, a contestant of “Sexy Babe” segment of “It’s Showtime” on Feb. 28, was asked to deliver a message to the Comelec. But before she gave her reply, she admitted she had limited knowledge about the election body.
Vice Ganda, one of the show’s hosts, was visibly taken aback by Aquino’s response, saying “that’s bothersome.”
Aquino did not answer when the hosts asked her if she had registered as a voter. The Inquirer could not independently confirm if she is a registered voter or her voter status had been deactivated.
She told the hosts that she was not able to watch the news because their family had no television at home. While she reads online, election-related news do not appear on her social media apps’ feed, she added.
Despite her scant knowledge about the Comelec, Aquino was hopeful for clean elections.
“Let us keep elections fair. We all know that even in the barangay level, vote-buying is rampant,” she said in Filipino.
“We all deserve leaders who will serve our communities,” she quipped. She was eventually declared as the segment’s winner for that day.
Opportunity
Garcia acknowledged responsibility in failing to reach out to Aquino and other young Filipino voters about the Comelec, especially this year when three elections are set to be conducted in the country—the May 12 national and local elections, the Oct. 13 Bangsamoro parliamentary elections, and the Dec. 1 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
The scheduled conversation with her is “for our full understanding as to why [there is unfamiliarity about Comelec],” he said. “It is our failure. [And] we have to immediately rectify [this].”
For the Comelec chief, their meeting with Aquino would serve as an opportunity rather than a reprimand for broader voter education among Filipinos, especially the youth.
“If she is converted as a believer, then we can perhaps do the same for others. Voters’ education is the key,” Garcia said.
