KIKO URGES YOUTH TO REGISTER: DICTATE WHO THE NEXT PRESIDENT WILL BE

With the beginning of registration for new voters today, Independent senator Kiko Pangilinan renewed his call for the youth to register and participate in the coming 2010 elections.

"The voting power of young people is so crucial because they can dictate who the next president will be. All their voted put together can topple traditional politics, that is why it's important for them not just to vote but to vote for the genuine alternative as well. It cannot be politics as usual. We need the politics of change that the youth bring," Kiko said.

COMELEC projects some 4.5 million first-time voters for the 2010 elections. The National Statistics Office reveals that 6million first-time voters were disenfranchised in the 2007 elections, 2million in 2004 and 5million in 2001.

"The youth and 2010 will speak a lot about this nation's future, not just because we will be choosing who will lead this nation in the coming years but because we will also show the kind of citizens who will move this country as well. Voting is a practice that prepares our citizens to participate in governance, which in turn is the most important element in our democracy. A lot is at stake for our youth and our nation," Kiko stressed.

Registration ends December 19 this year and resumes on January 2 until December 15, 2009.