ADVOCACY SPEECH

The world as it is now, has been through numerous changes and trials, specifically the
aftermath of a 2-year long pandemic that left not only the Philippines in shambles, but
presumably the whole world. This gave the Philippines more problems to add on it’s already
piling myriad of issues. The most prevalent issue that we (Filipinos) continuously encounters is
the issue with poverty, particularly at the moment when the country is experiencing a very high
inflation rate that has a significant impact on how we live and try to maintain our standard of
living. In addition to that, there are also issues of incompetent leaders being elected to be
officials despite their obvious shortcomings and credentials which leads to the country not
being able to progress further, adding up all of the wasted chances that these leaders could
come up with laws or ordinances that could directly help the welfare of all the Filipinos.
Instead, these leaders choose to direct their attention to unnecessary laws or strategies that
the people cannot benefit in the least. The issue with poverty is related to our rights in certain
ways, as some people’s voices are not heard, while others are unable to speak up to fight for
their rights because they are subjected to ignorance for a number of petty reasons such as
social standings and life status. This long-term issue can be connected to the matter regarding
elected leaders with flaws or shortcomings because occurrences like these could be easily
addressed specifically through how we, as the people of the country, perceive and treat the
leaders of our country.

Certain articles found in the 1987 Philippine Constitution states the requirements
needed in order for an individual, or rather a Filipino, to be able to run for a position of a
Senator, a member of the House of Representatives, the Vice-President as well as the
President. In fact, the only and common qualifications in order to do so are as follows: a natural
born citizen of the Philippines, at least a particular years of age, able to read and write, a
registered voter and a resident of the Philippines for a specific time immediately preceding the
day of election. I supposed this could also be applied to all the leadership positions across the
country. Nothing was stated there about these individuals strictly having reliable credentials, a
clean police record or a background free of past charges or current accusations. This is why,
every Filipino can run for government positions despite having questionable backgrounds and
obvious flaws because as long as that individual ticks all the stated qualifications, then that
individual is free to run. It doesn’t matter if there are already laws and articles that cater to the
general welfare of the Filipinos and the economic advancement of the country if the leaders are
not committed enough to constantly push and improve the ways to solve the most important
issues of the country.
 As a result, as citizens of a nation, it is our responsibility to elect a leader who is
perceptive and wise, who will pay attention to our concerns and take the necessary steps to
ensure the welfare of Filipinos and the growth of our economy. As John C. Maxwell puts it, “A
leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” Therefore, we must pay
close attention to how our leader operates and determine whether his or her leadership takes
into account the welfare of the people and if it aids in the development of our economy. If it
does not, we must do everything in our power to remove that person from office and vote for
the true and deserving candidate. Of course, even if that particular individual fits the position
and actually does responsibilities well, it doesn’t mean they won’t have any flaws. That is why
we have to be objective in how we perceive these leaders. Once a leader makes a mistake or
shows a flaw, it will always be etched in the people’s minds despite all the other good things
they have done. We need to identify the weight of these flaws, if it’s not of any significance, we
can look past it and continue to show support and our approval to those leaders in order for
them to lead the path unto helping the people and the country. However, once these flaws are
hard to turn a blind eye to, that is our cue to speak up, act accordingly and call out valid reasons
as to why we can’t approve of a particular leader or a potential leader because we have the
right to do it and the welfare of the people and the country is at stake here. After all, we all
could benefit at the end if we choose to be objective and wise when it comes to matters
regarding leaders. What is the point of being a republic country if we, the people, can’t be
objective enough to put the right leaders into power when we are clearly given the supreme
power to do so. That being the case, let’s use this supreme power to identify, decide and
choose which sides of the coin we approve of when it comes to flawed leaders because after all,
our decisions can hold different consequences so might as well, look for the bigger picture
which is the welfare of the people and the economic advancement of our country, the
Philippines.