QUICK as dogs eluding the net of city pound catchers, alert Catholic schools did not wait a day to announce their plan to “mobilize their students to safeguard next year’s polls.” The Catholic Educators Association of the Philippines (CEAP) intends to tap their high school and college students to help ensure that the 2010 elections would be conducted in a clean, honest, and orderly manner.

The goal is to politicize the youth early in their lives, and motivate them to become responsible citizens. This highlights the incontrovertible value of education in our contemporary society.

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Recent developments further raised the significance of education in our lives. The President’s pronouncement yesterday during the recognition rites of the 2009 Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines (TOSP) about investing in human resource, is a definite direction towards recognition of education as sole key to national progress.

It is clear indication that President Arroyo recognizes education as a basic pillar of political strength. Toward this end, the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) set aside P46 million from its present budget for the program that started last June. Succeeding funds for the project will be provided separately in future Ched annual budgets to insure the program’s continuity.

The League of Municipalities of the Philippines, the program’s primary beneficiary, expressed its full support for the program. They are looking forward to increasing the number of scholars.

But what is most important to consider is the need to educate our masses, not only to enable them to acquire or find a wholesome source of livelihood, but also to make them responsible citizens of our republic. While it may be true that being able to read or write is the only basic requirement in order to vote, what our country needs is not just ballots placed in the ballot box, but quality ballots that come from well-considered choices of candidates. To make this nation strong, we need quality leaders.

Thus, I presume that the CEAP, as well as the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and the Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC) are all tacitly serious in their desire to bring about in the Philippines a reformed election outlook, the compelling force that drives them to decide to let their school population help safeguard the precincts next year, whether the elections be manual or automated. With this army of well-motivated citizens guarding the precincts during balloting in 2010, there’s no reason for elections to fail.