COMELEC chair says contestant's viral comment a 'wake-up call' for stronger voter's education

Commission on Elections (COMELEC) chairman George Garcia has called the viral incident of a pageant contestant admitting unfamiliarity with the agency's role a wake-up call to improve voter education among Filipino youth.

- Patricia Dela Roca

In a recent "It's Showtime" episode, "Sexy Babe" segment contestant Heart Aquino became a hot topic online after telling the noontime program's hosts about her "limited" knowledge about the poll body and being an unregistered voter during a Q&A portion.

In his exclusive interview with The STAR's editor-in-chief Amy Pamintuan on "Truth On The Line," Garcia described the incident as "unfortunate" but also noted the "positive side" to it, seeing it as an opportunity to reassess and strengthen voters' education efforts.

"Nakakalungkot 'yung insidenteng 'yan. Pero bagamat nakakalungkot, tinitignan nalang natin 'to on the positive side," he said. "The positive side dun ay baka meron tayong natapilok na isang problema na maaaring alam na ng lahat pero hindi nabubulgar."

("That incident is unfortunate. But even though it's saddening, we choose to look at the positive side. The positive side is that we may have stumbled upon a problem that everyone might already be aware of but has not been openly discussed.")