The rapid spread of false information in the various social media platforms in this campaign period for the upcoming May 12, 2025 mid-term elections is concerning. Definitely these postings are intended to cause confusion among the country’s electorate on whom to vote when they go to the different polling centers on the day of the elections. Given the seemingly limited skills, knowledge and resources of people to fact check the millions of information in the different social media platforms that are uploaded every second, this tends to affect their decision-making on sensitive issues affecting the nation.
The spread of false information is being initiated by the hired troll armies of politicians aspiring for various elected positions in both the national and local levels to advance the political and personal interests of their respective benefactors. Ironically, it has been observed that even the way people comment on the evident false information being peddled by interest groups and individuals shows how difficult our situation is in terms of distinguishing true information from the ones that are false being widely circulated in the different social media platforms.
What is very disappointing is that even the children are exposed to the falsehoods that are now available in the social media platforms which affects their perception of life and their supposed bright future. Their current situation is actually aggravated by the mental health issues and concerns confronting the young and old as the same has worsened after the COVId-19 pandemic which concerned government agencies and local governments are now addressing through various interventions being implemented.
We believe parents have an important role in this pressing problem confronting the country. It is important to underscore that parents should first be educated on how to distinguish true from false information so that they can cascade the same to their children and for them to know and understand the dynamics of the present situation not only in the country, but also across the globe.
Parents must exercise their authority over their children by regulating the use of their gadgets and teaching them to go back to the basics of living. Noteworthy is the fact that parents should be the first ones to be educated on the proliferation of false information and incomplete information so that they will know what how to address these before their children to mitigate a wrong perception and understanding of matters that might compromise their decision-making in critical matters concerning their respective lives.
Relative to the upcoming conduct of the mid-term elections, voters must be discerning and have to maximize their gut-feel to understand the dynamics of present-day politics. Since the start of the campaign in the national and local levels, social media had been bombarded by millions of false information about the individuals aspiring for various elected positions. Our job as responsible voters is to start weeding out false information and help promote factual information. Let us not allow day dreaming leaders to continue lording it over us simple people because we are always at the losing end of things. Let us not be scammed by promising incumbent and returnee politicians who love to make promises which were actually never fulfilled or haphazardly fulfilled, and they are again coming back to us to solicit our votes to give them a chance to do repeat their performance.
Genuine leaders must stand up to fulfill their promises when they first sought our support without ifs or buts because they are obligated to do so. Now that they were not able to comply with their promises, they again come back to us to plea to give them another chance to achieve what they have promised us which they have not fulfilled in the first place .
Let us not allow those leaders who had made life difficult for us to continue to make us suffer for their lapses and broken promises. For these incumbents and come-backing candidates, let us vote for those who demonstrated sincerity during their incumbency. Unfortunately, some incumbents are there for various interlocking reasons: the money, for business opportunities, for the salary, for the name, for the prestige, among others. For the new ones, we must carefully analyze their performance in whatever jobs and responsibilities they have handled.
In the end, we must vote for those who can uphold the principles of good governance: accountability, transparency, participation, responsiveness, rule of law, equity and inclusiveness, effectiveness and efficiency, and consensus-oriented decision-making. Test your candidates on these. Remember, the goodies and money being distributed will only last for days, but a good elected leader is there in the long haul. Remember your children: do not compromise their future.
