Former Civil Service Commission (CSC) Chair Karlo Nograles on Tuesday expressed optimism that his entry into the Davao City mayoralty race would encourage the voters of Davao City to troop to the polls as he lamented that a fourth of the city’s voters just stayed home during the 2022 national and local elections.
A week following his filing of candidacy for mayor of his hometown, Nograles said that at this point he had one message for the voters of Davao City: “Please exercise your right to vote; please exercise your right to choose your leaders.”
Nograles said that he hoped his running for mayor “would encourage more of my kababayan to get involved in this election, because this time they have a choice.”
Nograles pointed out that in 2022, 26% of Davao City voters did not vote, a substantial percentage given that Davao City is a highly urbanized city.
“In 2022, the voter turnout in Davao City was just 74%, which means one in four voters did not cast their vote. That is significantly lower than the national voter turnout of 82.6%,” said the former congressman.
“What makes this figure just as troubling is that usually in a presidential election, more people vote. But in Davao City, it appears people were not motivated to vote. Voter turnout in Davao City was even worse in 2019, when only 65% of voters cast their ballots, far lower than the 73% national voter turnout that year,” explained the longtime public servant.
“Baka hindi kasi ganado ang mga tao dahil walang bago, walang choice. Same same lang, kumbaga. Alam kong maraming tahimik na gustong bumoto, gustong magsalita, at gustong maging involved sa pagbabago. Pero siguro iniisip nila, worth it ba ang effort if pare-pareho lang ang mga pangalan sa balota?”
Nograles, who served three terms in Congress before joining the Executive Department and later the CSC, said that he hoped his running for mayor “would encourage more of my kababayan to get involved in this election, because this time they have a choice, a chance to vote for someone other than the usual names na nakikita nila sa balota.”
“Ramdam ko ang excitement sa mga taga Davao na kausap ko. Many want change and want to be agents of that change, kaya excited din ako. I’ve never been so engaged and eager to share my vision for the city, because I really believe that the people of Davao City are open to the idea of change for the better.”
