Press Release
April 18, 2016

MIRIAM: VOTE, WORK IN GOV'T TO END CORRUPTION

Presidential candidate Miriam Defensor Santiago on Monday urged young Filipinos to participate in the elections and to join the government workforce to help change the culture of corruption.

"Be critical, vocal, and involved in the political process. We are a democratic country and it is our duty to keep our government in check," the senator said in her speech before a crowd of 3,000 graduates and their parents at the Bulacan State University.

Santiago, the presidential candidate with the widest online following, also encouraged tech-savvy voters to use Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to voice their anger and frustration against the politicians who are driven by greed.

"Do not allow the rich and the powerful to be given special privileges. You have every right to be furious at all these corrupt politicians; because after all, it is our money that is being used to sustain their expensive lifestyles," she added.

Asked at the sidelines of the graduation rites about another candidate's controversial joke on rape, Santiago said her tough-talking rival "may have crossed the line," but added that the voters ultimately have a choice.

"If the people do not like the remark, they can express it through the ballot, but otherwise, he has the right to free expression. That's the way he expresses himself," she told reporters.

The senator also warned millennials against the defeatist notion that the Philippines is a "a nation of helpless people," adding that such a mindset is tantamount to surrendering the country to corrupt leaders.

"If you refuse to work in government because you think it is so corrupt, no one else will be left in government except the corrupt," she said in Filipino, to cheers from the crowd. She instead advised the graduates to "change the system from within."

Santiago has been recently been more actively campaigning with her running mate, Sen. Bongbong Marcos, in university campuses all over the country a month before Election Day.

She has also confirmed that she will join the third and last presidential debate in Pangasinan, and is scheduled to deliver a speech at the University of the Philippines Mindanao in Davao City on Wednesday, April 20.

In a week, the Santiago-Marcos tandem has visited three campuses: the University of the Philippines Visayas in Iloilo City, the Saint Louis University in Baguio City, and Bulacan State University in Malolos. The pair drew thousands of supporters in all venues.

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