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Students, Members of the Faculty and the community composed of local officials, housewives, out of school youth, PWDs, professional, self-employed, urban poor, PUJ drivers led the voter’s Education Forum and Mock Elections this morning, March 9, 2016 at First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities Campus.
This program—a proposed partnership between the Philippine Center for Civic Education and Democracy and the First Asia Institute for Technology and Humanities—focuses on the need to develop and implement an effective voters education program grounded in the cultivation of civic virtues in time for the 2016 national elections and beyond.
The development of discerning voters—by making information available and accessible to all—is the central goal of all voters education program. But there are limits to the impact of voter education programs. Voter education has a tendency to be ad hoc initiatives as they are normally organized around the time of elections. While elections are central components of democracy, participatory democracy is more than elections.
The development of active citizens—those who critically engage governments not just through the ballot but also through effective participation in the political process—is a critical ingredient in the consolidation and maturation of Philippine democracy.
This is the purpose of civic education. “Civic Education is a critical and effective empowerment tool for promoting citizen participation in democratic and development processes. It empowers citizens, both as individuals and as part of
collective groupings” (UNDP, 2004).
This is then the fundamental assumption of this program: “Voter education is most effective when linked with a program of civic education that puts the election into context for voters and provides an explanation of the election’s purpose, the surrounding issues, and their significance.”
