POV’s of the Enderun Community regarding Elections
The elections are coming up, and it has become overwhelming for people to keep up. Political debates, candidate infographics, campaign rallies, social media discourses and the like, it becomes part of our daily knowledge consumption. With this, hat does a Titan think about all these events with this vast political atmosphere? A random survey with an arbitrary sample size of 22 participants was conducted to get the perspective of the Titan community regarding elections. This article will talk about the point-of-view from a few members of the Enderun Community about voting and their general insight about politics.
19 people have stated that they are interested in the upcoming elections while the other three are less interested. With this ratio, we can say that the majority of our respondents are curious and open to learn more about politics. . In terms of them being vocal with their political stances in their platforms and community, there is a difference of perspectives: eight are neutral, four are not vocal, two aren’t as vocal, six are very vocal and two are more vocal.
These results may be because of how the recent events in the electoral campaign turned out. It is not confirmed if there are troll farms and propaganda machinery in social media platforms so stay vigilant with what you consume and engage online. Still, whether or not it is true, it takes courage to be vocal online with the expected negative and dragging backlash from the opposite side you are fighting. Not to mention the cultural influences, the different political stances among the family and friends that often become awful to deal with (Ledesma, 2022). More so, almost half of the respondents are still taking part in voicing their political agendas on their platforms.
20 Titans solidly think that their votes matter whether or not they are invested in politics or are vocal about it. One other respondent voted “no” and explained that they are still ineligible to vote, which justified their “no” because there’s no “vote” to consider from the first place. One respondent opted not to make a political stance equating their neutrality towards the importance of their votes. This means that they don’t think that their vote matters neither it will matter; They opted to stay neutral towards the idea of voting. Nevertheless, we need to remember that as Filipinos and Filipinos-at-heart, our stand for the betterment of the nation counts as equal as each vote figuratively. Objectively speaking, the number of votes will determine which public servants will win, but at the end of the day, each of us holds power to this nation because of our vote; that’s the beauty of democracy.
In the elections, the end goal is to elect leaders of the country and the attributes of a leader that the Enderun community looks for, among other choices, transparency and accountability ranked first, good track record was second, and sense of justice and fair attitude was the third. Titans want someone who is transparent and accountable for their actions, especially when it comes to appropriately spending and utilizing the taxpayer’s money, transparency in all processes under their care, and accountability for anything that happens inside their governance. These attributes relate to having a good track record which means they are not corrupt. The Enderun Community also looks at a good record of all achievements and projects. There are no pending law violations or anything that could deter people’s trust. As all of these attributes are interconnected, the third attribute was a sense of justice and fair attitude. Our Titans want their government officials to be someone who knows what is right based on our constitution and works on their morale to promote fairness and justice at all times. Also, someone who maintains checks and balances to uphold good governance without abuses, harassment, and the “palaksan” system.
**Palakasan system is a term to describe the underground and unspoken culture of favoring a person because they benefit the perpetrator or they are connected with a sentimental relationship at the expense of others rights and established systems. E.g. “They are my relatives so they don’t need to line up in the queue”**
Aside from these top 3 attributes, the other attributes that our titans want in their future leaders are , humility and care for others, good problem-solving skills, open to criticism/feedback, and someone who collaborates and communicates. The rest answered their preferred characteristics like sharing the same advocacy as theirs, and another wanted someone who has a good character.
All of this boils down to our Titan community wanting good governance and having the power to elect their future leaders. For the last part of the survey, these are the words and phrases they describe for their ideal government: progressive, transparent, community-grounded, virtuous, humble, inclusive, just, fair, united with people, accountable, present, human-centric, democratic-socialism, secured, economic growth, and development of the country. All the words you have read are the collective call of making the Philippines better, and of alleviating the challenging life of many Filipinos. In this coming 2022 elections, continue to advocate the candidates that align with your values and principles, and encourage the people around you to be involved and interested in the upcoming elections. Know that together with your Enderun Community, your vote is your power.
References
Ledesma, J. (2022, February 19). Families and friendships over politics. Philippine News Agency. Retrieved April 1, 2022, from https://www.pna.gov.ph/opinion/pieces/500-families-and-friendships-over-politics
