In a sense, you are called upon to stand up and give voice to the aspirations of many who have become timid or fearful, who have become indifferent or apathetic, who have been cowed to silence and intimidated by the forces of state repression or coercion, or have been overwhelmed by the demands of daily subsistence—the unceasing efforts simply to wait for a ride (which I have witnessed a thousand times) or just to survive.
We believe in you. We have seen hope in your eyes. We have seen courage in your actions. Our generation may have tried but failed. But yours is more prepared, more real, more capable, and certainly “woke.” Thus, with you in the forefront, the battle is joined, and may the words of the poet accompany you in this uncertain and improbable quest: “to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield!”
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Ed Garcia is a framer of the 1987 Constitution. He worked at Amnesty International and International Alert in the United Kingdom for over two decades and taught at the Ateneo, UP and FEU.See the bigger picture with the Inquirer's live in-depth coverage of the election here
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