Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Chairman George Garcia has spoken out regarding the viral incident involving a pageant contestant who admitted to being unaware of the agency’s role, calling it a wake-up call to reevaluate voters’ education among Filipino youth.
In his exclusive interview with The Philippine STAR on “Truth On The Line”, Garcia addressed the viral incident involving pageant candidate Heart Aquino, who admitted on national television to having little knowledge about the poll body. was unfortunate but also saw a “positive side” to it.
While he acknowledged the situation as “saddening”, he also highlighted its “positive side”, seeing it as an opportunity to reassess and strengthen voters’ education efforts.
“Nakakalungkot ‘yung insidenteng ‘yan. Pero bagama’t nakakalungkot, tinitignan nalang natin ‘to on the positive side,” he told STAR’s editor-in-chief, Amy Pamintuan. “Ang positive side don ay baka meron tayong natapilok na isang problema na maaaring alam na ng lahat pero hindi nabubulgar.”
He suggested that the incident might have revealed an underlying issue—whether today’s youth are becoming less engaged with socio-political matters or if only certain groups remain actively aware of national concerns, particularly those related to elections.
“Maaaring ang hindi pagkilala at pagkakaalam sa COMELEC ay repleksyon,” Garcia said. “‘Yan po nangangahulugan lang na dapat i-doble namin ang aming efforts sa ating voters education. Baka nga medyo may kulang o kaya naman sumasablay o kaya naman mali ang approach na gusto natin mangyari.”
He pointed out that many young people are more inclined to engage with entertaining content on social media platforms rather than consume news from trusted sources or follow election-related discussions. However, he also noted that those with political awareness tend to stay informed.
Upon looking into the contestant’s background, Garcia emphasized that socioeconomic factors may also play a role in young people’s lack of awareness about national issues, considering that she had lost both parents and is currently the breadwinner of her remaining family.
“Niresearch po natin, inalam natin kung bakit natin siya inimbitahan. Ano nga bang dahilan? Kabataan ka, ikaw ay may itsura, lumalaban sa mga ganyang pageant. E di ba dapat parang pag lumalaban ka sa pageant, marunong ka lalo sa pagsagot?”, Garcia commented on inviting Aquino to the government agency’s main office in Intramuros, Manila.
“Ibig sabihin siguro nga ‘pag nagtatrabaho ‘yung isang kabataan, baka sa halip na nagfo-focus dun sa mga ibang problema ng bayan, doon nalang s’ya nagfofocus sa sarili n’yang problema. Maraming ganyan na kabataan,” he explained.
Given this, Garcia urged “refocus and reexamine our voters’ education program”, stating that efforts should not only target students but also out-of-school youth and young workers who may not actively engage with political discussions.
“We shouldn’t concentrate only to those who are enrolled or ‘yung mga nagaaral. E papaano ‘yung mga out-of-school youth? Ibig sabihin ba pagka out-of-school youth, kinakailang kaligtaan na natin sila?”, he remarked. “So siguro po maganda rin na magkaroon din tayo ng mga voters ed program para sa mga out-of-school youth o yung maaaring mga nagtatrabaho pero hindi na masyadong nag-titingin sa social media doon sa mga sularin natin.”
