Comelec taps Kathryn Bernardo to push women to run for office

In a 41-second video clip, the 210year-old movie and television personality encouraged Filipinos to join  (Photo: Kathryn Bernardo/Facebook)

MANILA — Teen actress Kathryn Bernardo has been tapped by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to urge qualified women voters to participate in the May 14 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.

In a 41-second video clip, the 21-year-old movie and television personality encouraged Filipinos to join the forthcoming electoral exercises.

“Not only as voters, but as candidates. Remember, history has proven that with women at the helm, nothing is impossible,” she said in a YouTube video.

The video with the title, “Kathryn Bernardo thinks you should run”, was posted on the video-sharing site last Feb. 5 and was uploaded by Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez.

The video cited data that showed that there are more women voters than men – 28,052,138 women or 51 percent, against 26,311,706 men or 48.4 percent — but noted that only one in five candidates is a woman.

“The Commission on Elections Gender and Development (GAD) system chose Ms. Kathryn Bernardo to help promote gender equality in political participation because, throughout her career, she has exemplified the talent and ability of Filipino women of all ages,” Jimenez said.

“In a political landscape that would benefit tremendously from greater participation of women, she is a fitting voice to deliver the Comelec-GAD’s message encouraging women to participate in elections, not just to register as voters but to run for posts,” he added.

The video also carries the hashtag, #WomenMakeChange, a project that aims to promote gender equality in elections.

According to Comelec data, there were only 212,922 female candidates as compared to 605,776 male candidates in the 2013 barangay elections.

A total of 86,377 females and 246,410 males won barangay positions.

For the May 2018 elections, candidates are required to file their certificates of candidacy from April 14-20.