At A Glance
- House Speaker Martin Romualdez has underscored the need for the country's youth to show their active participation in the 2025 local elections.
- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) sees a sizable portion of eligible young voters who have yet to register.
House Speaker Martin Romualdez (Facebook)
House Speaker Martin Romualdez has underscored the need for the country's youth to show their active participation in the 2025 local elections.
Romualdez said the youth can do so by registering as voters and casting their votes in the upcoming electoral exercise.
"The youth are the backbone of our nation's future. Their active participation in the upcoming elections is crucial in ensuring that their concerns, aspirations, and vision for the country are represented and addressed by our leaders," Romualdez, leader of the 300-plus strong House of Representatives, said in a statement in a Wednesday, Feb. 21.
He made this call after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) opened the period of registration for the 2025 midterm elections last Feb. 12. The registration period will end on Sept. 30 this year.
According to recent data from Comelec, there has been a significant surge in voter registration from the youth demographic. However, the poll body sees a sizable portion of eligible young voters who have yet to register.
As part of his advocacy, Speaker Romualdez plans to launch a series of voter registration drives and awareness campaigns targeting educational institutions, youth organizations, and communities nationwide.
He said these initiatives will provide resources, information, and assistance to facilitate the registration process for young voters.
He noted that involvement in the electoral process is instrumental in building a stronger, more inclusive democracy and ensuring a brighter future for future generations.
Under the Comelec’s Register Anywhere Program, applicants may register in any of the poll body’s designated registration sites which include Comelec offices and satellite, malls, and special registration areas such as certain churches and plazas.
The poll body expects some three million Filipinos to register as new voters ahead of the 2025 elections.
For the recent 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), Comelec tallied almost 92 million registered voters. The exact figure is 91,912,429 registered voters recorded in 201,799 clustered precincts and 37,524 voting centers.