EDITORIAL - Go out and register

Even as voter registration operations resumed last September 1, the Commission on Elections reported that the turnout of people listing up to be able to vote has been disappointingly low.

This goes for almost all regions in the country, but most especially the National Capital Region. 

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez has attributed this small number to the current global pandemic. He said fears of getting COVID-19 might be stopping many people from going out to register as voters.

While this is indeed a justifiable fear, we enjoin our brothers and sisters who have not yet registered to vote to brave the dangers and move to join the roster of voters.

Yes, the timing of the pandemic is unfortunate, but those who haven’t registered or aren’t planning to do so, must realize that voting is not just an exercise of democracy, it is also the best way they can actively participate in bringing about the change they want in this country.

If there is one good thing to come out of this pandemic, that would be showing us who among our government officials could handle a crisis and who could not. It revealed who are those officials who really went out and about to deal with the different problems brought about by the lockdowns, and who just chose to isolate themselves in their ivory towers, leaving their constituents to fend for themselves.

In short, the pandemic crisis showed us, and is continuing to show us, who should and who should not be in a particular public office.

And armed with the power to choose, voters can make sure those officials who left the constituents on their own, those officials who made sure only their friends and supporters got aid in cash and or kind, and those officials who concerned themselves only with their own affairs during this pandemic never get to do so again during any crisis, disaster, or calamity.

So, yes, being able to vote means being able to replace those incompetent government officials who only looked after themselves during this pandemic. That itself should be a motivation to the many who were left without aid, help, or hope during the long lockdowns in various parts of the country.