AS OF JANUARY 23, 2025, there are 69,673,655 eligible voters in the poll body’s registry.
A segmentation of this universe, presented according to generational cohorts by the GMA Integrated News Research, showed the following information are vital:
(a) There are 10.50 million Filipinos who belong to this writer’s generation — the Baby Boomers, and the Silent Generations of the post-wars era, or those born in the periods from 1946–1964 and 1928–1945, respectively, making up 13.83% of the electoral pie;
(b) While there are 17.64 million regarded as Gen Xers, or those born in the period from 1965 to 1980, making up 23.22% of the electoral pie;
(c) The Millennials number 25.94 million—they are those born in the period from 1981 to 1996, making up 34.15% of the electoral pie; and
(d) Those who belong to the Gen Z, or those born in the period from 1997 to 2007, number 21.87 million Filipinos, making up 28.79% of the electoral pie.
POLITICAL ACTIVISM
In the face of growing political activism triggered by the people’s collective disgust over the unprecedented levels of corruption in public works, it is best for the country’s leadership to consider these vital numbers as it tries to factor in the youth’s activism. The Administration’s National Situation Room should better consider the poll body’s figures as of the latest data consolidation.
The foregoing composition of the electoral pie indicates that our future will now have to be heavily influenced by the disposition of the Millennials and Gen Z voters—they constitute about 63% of the political gravitas that can catapult anyone to the political totem pole—or make uneasy the head on which the crown rests. They made up the 68% of the registered voters that packed a wallop during the Eleksyon 2025.
While the BabyBoomers who still strut their political wares and sashay into the fray with what they believe they have—grey matter between their ears, are better served notice that whatever solid arguments they may have on any issue, cerebral or comical, pretentious or real—will no longer make a dent on the political discourse when ranged against the exuberance of the younger generations from the likes of representatives Leandro Leviste, Kiko Barzaga, and Renee Co, or Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto, QC’s Joy Belmonte, or even emerging youth organizer Kiko Aquino-Dee, and that tech-savvy Vice Mayor from Cagayan Valley, or even the Millennials like Senator Bam Aquino, Francis Zamora of San Juan City, Mayor Gatchalian of Valenzuela City, and, hate them or love them, Davao City’s Acting Mayor Baste Duterte and his sister, Veep Sarah Zimmerman Duterte.
ECONOMIC CHALLENGES
Here’s a caveat though: This segmentation according to generational groupings is not the sole determinant of electoral consequence. The economic categorization is what is telling during the polls. For as long as economic challenges are readable and made comprehensible in terms of the number of meals a family eats everyday, the poverty index remains the more solid argument. Thus, the political weight of the age cohorts will still be disrupted by the wallop of the 4Ps, Tupad, AICS, and other state welfare aids.
Yes, the younger electorates will surely dictate; however, even among the millennials and company, it is still the question of what they will eat for the day that will impact when they get to decide whose name to shade on Election Day.
This is how our society has fallen prey to a politically weaponized welfare assistance program. Make no mistake though that this welfare assistance programs are effective only for those who dangle them during Election Day—the congressmen, governors, or mayors. These “vote-getting tools” or “campaign sweeteners,” if you will, do not necessarily translate into electoral votes for the party’s national candidates.
POLITICAL HUSTINGS
Pertaining to the dynamics of political hustings insofar as the candidates for national positions are concerned—especially in light of the tight campaign periods, these national hopefuls will still have to rely on local politicos who enjoy real local support.
Perforce, the former’s total reliance on the local politicians as their main campaigner will rise and fall on a couple of factors: (1) the acceptability of the local politicians vis-a-vis their constituency; and (2) the trustworthiness of these local politicos as they carry out the campaign for the national candidates.
Failing in one, the national candidate who casts his lot solely on the assurances of local politicos—who also have their own political survival depend on how shrewdly they horse trade and campaign until the day of the polls—will likely eat the dust.