October 5, 2024 | 11:44am
MANILA, Philippines — Kabataan Partylist filed its certificate of candidacy before the Commission on Elections on Saturday, October 5, fielding 10 nominees for the 2025 midterm elections.
Kabataan has consistently secured a single seat since the 2007 elections as one of the two youth representatives in Congress. It is a member of the minority, along with other party-lists under the Makabayan Coalition.
The party-list’s primary focus is advancing the Student Rights Bill and the Adequate and Accessible University Services Bill to tackle the country’s learning crisis.
These measures aim to safeguard students’ freedom of speech and expression within educational institutions while also lowering the costs of dormitory housing, transportation, and other essential needs of students.
Kabataan’s voter base surged in the 2022 national elections, garnering over 530,000 votes — more than double the approximately 190,000 votes they received in the 2019 midterm elections.
The party-list said that “there is no new Philippines” if the country’s legislative agenda remains in the hands of political dynasties with “rotten traditional politics.”
“Our generation has been through the worst. We faced an extraordinary crisis amid the pandemic, disasters, and killings due to the corrupt politics of a few,” Co said in a mix of English and Filipino.
They will advocate for an “alternative politics of hope” for the Filipino youth who are fed up with the current choices of “kasamaan at kadiliman,” she added.
Nominees. Following in the footsteps of incumbent Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel is the party-list’s first nominee Renee Co who previously held the position of the 38th student regent of the University of the Philippines (UP).
A lawyer, Co is currently the party-list’s national executive vice president and convenor of 1Sambayan, an alliance of democratic groups.
The second and third nominees also have backgrounds as student leaders in their respective universities.
Jose Paolo Echavez, currently Kabataan’s vice president for Visayas, previously served as student council president at Silliman University and the president of the Agricultural Students Association of the Philippines.
Echavez is also among the topnotchers in the Agricultural Licensure Examinations and the first summa cum laude of his university.
The third nominee is Peter Angelo Garcia, the chairperson of Kabataan Southern Tagalog and convenor of the Youth Advocates for Peace with Justice in UP Los Baños.
Kabataan’s other nominees include Gab Siscar, Jayvie Cabajes, Mia Simon, Kej Andres, Hayme Galas, Crimson Labinghisa and Lisse De Vera.
Legislation. The youth party-list has co-authored the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Law, the Free Public Wi-Fi Law and the establishment of National Students’ Day.
To this day, Kabataan continues to endorse bills that safeguard students’ rights and campus press freedom.
It also advocates for the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), citing that this publicly funded institution has red-tagged, threatened, and intimidated students, activists, and organizations that criticize the government.
Kabataan has outlined a 10-point Youth Agenda, detailing its priorities for the 20th Congress.
Key areas include free, accessible, and quality education; livable wages; national sovereignty; mental health programs for students; genuine agrarian reform; the development of national industries; and climate action.
“‘Yun po ang unang isusulong: ang pagkilala at further protections para sa mga karapatan ng mga estudyante, constitutional rights that they do not leave when they step into school gates but continue to keep with themselves as basic human rights,” Co said.
The first nominee said that they should not be overlooked or dismissed simply because they are students.
“And that should be recognized in the midst of circumstances where it is disregarded, not acknowledged just because we are students,” Co said in Filipino.
