‘Own the vote, flip the script': Voters' ed forum stirs youth to rethink elections
StudentsOn a regular Saturday, the Catanduanes State University (CatSU) Auditorium and Gymnasium might host classes. But on April 5, it turned into a battleground for ideas—where nearly 1,500 students showed up not to chant cheers, but to question vote buying, call out fake news, and claim power at the ballot. The event? #NXTGENNARRATIVE: Own the Vote, Flip the Script, a voter’s education forum brought to life by JCI Catanduanes in partnership with CatSU. It didn’t just stay within campus walls—Facebook and Radyo Pilipinas-Virac streamed it live, racking up over 30,000 views, proof that the hunger for credible elections is real, and loud. No sugarcoating here. Atty. Pamela Joy T. Herrera-Sanchez from the Department of Justice laid it bare: voting is power—"but only if you know how to use it." Rev. Fr. Mark Anthony Tasarra didn’t mince words either—vote buying? “A betrayal of the future.” And Mr. Anjo G. Tugay, CatSU’s own, armed students with strategies to sniff out misinformation, calling it “the modern-day virus of democracy.” More than a lecture, it felt like a movement—a generation pushing back, asking better questions, and preparing to cast smarter votes. CatSU, already known for academic excellence, is now carving out space as a force in civic engagement, proving that shaping minds isn’t just about lectures and labs—it’s also about teaching students how to stand their ground when it counts.
