A Catholic prelate has asked the faithful to vote wisely in the May 2022 polls.
Dumaguete Bishop Julito Cortes said the coming polls is crucial because "the choice each Filipino voter casts can make or unmake the future of our country."
He also appealed to voters not to sell their votes.
"Keep your votes sacred. Do not exchange your votes with bribe money that will only regretfully result in substandard projects, poor services, and questionable expenditures in the future. Remember: those who are engaged in vote buying are bound to corrupt when they sit in power," Cortes said in a statement.
"Let us eradicate this culture of corruption through the right choices we make. Let us think of our children and our children's children who will eventually benefit from the right choices we make in this election," he added.
Cortes said voters should choose candidates who are God fearing, who have the track record of good governance, those whose platform include programs for the poor and the marginalized, and those who have strategic agenda to protect the environment.
"The above-mentioned core values require us not to choose those who use violence to gain power, not to choose those who abuse power by killing innocent lives, not to choose those who are involved in vote-buying, those who are engaged in gambling activities, those who have records of corruption in any form, and not to choose proponents of environmentally-destructive projects like questionable reclamations and quarrying projects," he said.
"Let our votes be reflective of our conscience. Let our votes reflect the voice of God in each of our hearts," added Cortes.