Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV is calling on Filipinos eligible to vote in the May 2022 polls to register and seek change.
In a video posted on his official Facebook page, the former senator, who is gunning to run either as president or vice president, encouraged Filipinos to do their part in building the nation.
“Alam n’yo madalas ko marinig ang mga salitang walang magagawa ang isang boto ko para sa pagbabago. Ang totoo... meron! Walang halong bola, walang halong biro. May magagawa ang boto mo kung sama-sama tayo (You know, I always hear people saying that their one vote cannot achieve change. The truth is... there is! No flatter, no joke. Your vote can do something if we are together),” Trillanes said.
“Ang isang boto mo pwede maging isang daan, isang libo, isang milyon, isang pagbabago (Your one vote can be a hundred, a thousand, a million, a change),” he added.
He asked Filipinos to not only register to vote, but also to encourage their “sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, friends, significant others, neighbors, playmates, and everyone you can encourage.”
Trillanes, now a professor, used the hashtag #pilipinaswalangsusuko, which literally translates to “Philippines, no to surrender.”
“Magparehistro para makaboto sa susunod na halalan. Tuloy-tuloy lang ang laban (Register so you can vote in the next elections. Let’s continue the fight),” Trillanes said.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said in June that it surpassed its target of four million new registrants. It is looking to have 60 million registered voters for the upcoming national elections.
READ: New voter registrants now at 4.3 million, says poll official
The poll body, however, is expecting voter turnout to be lower than the registered number of voters. In 2019, there was a 75 percent voter turnout, which means 46.3 million of the total 61.8 million registered voters went to precincts to cast their votes.
The ongoing nationwide registration will end on September 30.