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Sarah Jane Elago: Beacon of Hope for Youth in Government

Annika Cuñada
Aug 18, 2021
3 min read

Updated: Sep 22, 2021

YOUNG STAFF. Office of the President staff during the Aquino administration: ‘Hindi pwede ang basta pwede na’ (Photo from Rochelle Ahorro Facebook)

Magparehistro! This has been the constant plea of Sarah Jane Ibañez Elago, a Filipino activist and a current member of the Philippine House of Representatives, representing the youth sector under the Kabataan Party list.

STAFF PROCLAMATION. The author (foreground, in yellow), PNoy (hardly visible, far right), and his young staff gathering after his proclamation in Congress in 2010 (Contributed photo)

Background, beliefs, and bank account

In the University of the Philippines - Diliman where she graduated cum laude, Elago was a member of the Student Council for two years and held the positions of coordinator for Youth Vote Philippines, officer in the International Youth Council, and president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines, among many others.

Elago became the youngest female legislator elected to the Philippine Congress during her first term in 2016. She is currently in her second term for the 17th and 18th Congress of the Philippine House of Representatives. She is also a member of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights and, in her own words, “still a full-time activist who just happens to be a congresswoman”.

To date, she has authored 513 bills, spanning from salaries and allowance of public school teachers to students’ rights and academic freedom. One noteworthy bill is the Comprehensive Free Public Higher Education Bill in 2017 which presently benefits around two million college students each year.

The 31-year-old lawmaker was also the first Filipino, along with five other young leaders, who received the One Young World Politician of the Year 2020 award at the One Young World 2020 Summit in Munich, Germany.

Elago is not only the youngest lawmaker, but also the poorest with a net worth of ₱85,400.

Red-tagging and online harassment

Elago’s stand on numerous issues like the UP-DND Accord, the ABS-CBN franchise, the anti-terror bill, and the war on drugs, made her a constant target of red-tagging. Late 2020, she filed an administrative complaint against the members of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict. “Red-tagging upon my person and my party are rife with falsehoods and are malicious and misleading. They are done in bad faith and in direct affront to professionalism and political neutrality,” said Elago.

She had also been a target of online harassment, one of which was the malicious spread of an altered photo showing an alleged mugshot of her after she was supposedly booked for being a New People’s Army recruiter.

Appeal to the youth of today

In Elago’s numerous talks, she emphasized the role of youth in service and empowerment and the importance of the voice of the youth, “the voice of dissent, the voice of hope”.

“Madalas ’yung mga taong nais nating suportahan hindi sila napakikinggan kaya doon kinakailangan ’yung assertion, ’yung kulit ng kabataan, ’yung tireless effort natin para mapakinggan.” (More often than not, the people we wish to support are not being heard, and that’s where we need the assertion, the restlessness of the youth, our tireless effort to be heard.)

But as of late, her Twitter feed and privilege speeches have focused on urging the youth to register and exercise their right to vote in the coming 2022 elections: “Kilos, Kabataan, #MagpaRehistroKa!”

"Sa taong 2022, bibigyan na naman tayo ng pagkakataon na makapamili ng mga susunod na lider ng bansa. Ngayon, higit kailanman, nangangailangan ng aktibong partisipasyon ng mga kabataan at mamamayan,

Elago said in one of her privilege speeches.

(In the year 2022, we are given the chance again to choose the future leaders of the country. Now, more than ever do we need the active participation of the youth and of the masses.)

Elago stressed that being a member of the youth alone does not make one a shoo-in to be the hope of the future.“Hindi siya in a snap pag-asa ka na ng bayan, dahil hindi automatic na may pakialam ka na sa bayan.” (It’s not in a snap that you’re the hope of the nation, because it isn’t automatic that you care for the nation.) "Ang pagpaparehistro ang unang hakbang para sa karapatan sa pagboto. Ito ang huhubog sa kalagayan at kapakanan ng sambayanan, hindi lang sa kasalukuyan, kundi sa mamanahin nating kinabukasan," Elago said.

(Registering as a voter is the first step towards the right to vote. This will shape the condition and welfare of the people, not only in the present, but also of the future we’ll inherit.)

NOTE: The deadline for voters’ registration for the May 2022 Elections is on September 30, 2021. Here is a complete guide on how to register to vote in the time of pandemic.