- NND News Team
Bacolod Bishop Patricio Buzon called on the youth to be a force in the May 2022 elections.
If the 40 million youth will get their acts together, then “tapos na ang election”, Buzon said at the launching of GuBan, or Gugma-Banwa, movement at the Bishop’s House lobby in Bacolod City Oct. 22.
GuBan is an alliance that focuses on clean, honest, accountable, meaningful, and peaceful election and is pushing for participatory and good governance.
“This election will not simply be a choice of a “lesser evil”, but “will truly be between the good and the bad, the competent and the incompetent, between the honest and the corrupt,” Buzon stressed.
He said he is banking on the 40 million youth to change the course of the country’s history, through the ballot.
“We have to help our young people to think right…to see the truth and form them to love the truth,” Buzon said.
He warned against lies being spread through the social media, and rallied the people to teach the young to “love the truth.”
“When you go against the truth, you are an agent of the devil,” Buzon stressed.
The Diocese of Bacolod, through the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting and the Commission on Youth, and the Bacolod Youth Coalition for Democracy have been working separately to increase the number of youth registrants, educate and empower voters into participating in the 2022 elections.
The launching of the GuBan movement aims to synchronize efforts on youth engagement as well as recalibrate past and existing initiatives to reach the greater youth population in Negros Occidental, who can and will participate in the upcoming elections.
Fr. Chris Gonzales, director of the Social Action Center of the Diocese, said GuBan is an inclusive, independent, loose, non-partisan, and multi-sectoral alliance of various organizations and institutions in Negros that envisions to empower the youth, through voters’ education, and to encourage participation in democratic processes during and beyond elections.
It is driven by the values of love for the country, good and participatory governance, and convergence for collaboration and unification of efforts, he added. — NND
