Guest workers’ kids urged to ‘step up’ and voice concerns

An advocate group of young voters was formed Friday to address the plight of U.S. citizen children of guest workers who have been separated from their parents or who were forced to leave their island home after their parents lost their jobs and had to go back to their home countries.

According to organizer Irene Tantiado, the group of 12 also discussed efforts to get more youths like themselves to register as voters.

She said the initial meeting gathered 12 core members, all of whom are above 18 years old and are registered voters.

Tantiado said that, while she organized the meeting, it was the youth themselves who led the discussions and came up with the idea of organizing themselves into a group and electing officers.

Julius Reyes was elected chairman of the group, while Lawrence Deleon Guerrero became vice chairman and Aaron Paul Roque was elected secretary.

In an interview, Roque, who turns 20 in August, said that while the group is not yet official—they have yet to settle on a name, social media, or phone contacts—they think it is important to voice out their concerns.

“Our teenagers, our youth, are the next governors, the next teachers, the next professionals, so why not get involved now? Step up,” he said.

Roque said they wish to voice their concerns for better status for guest workers.

“[Guest workers] have stayed on island for a long time, and if you would be reasonable and logical, they have already contributed a lot to the islands,” he said.

He said that, like other members of the group, he personally knows of a friend whose parents’ status eventually will force her to live on her own on island.

According to Roque, the group for now does not support a party or candidate for this year’s elections, nor do they intend to tell their members who to vote for. Instead, they wish to educate themselves and other youth on their rights and options.

“It’s important for us to help out some youth that don’t know about their right to vote, to practice voting, to be involved,” Roque said.

Tantiado said that of the thousands of registered voters on island, there are many more who are unregistered.

According to Roque, the group hopes to meet this week, with a working date of Friday set.

The next meeting, according to him, will be to finalize the group’s name, as well as map out their agenda. He said their group’s age range as of now is from 18 to 20 years old.

Last week’s meeting was held at a member’s Anaks apartment residence.

Tantiado said the venue for this week’s meeting is yet to be set.

For more information about this week’s meeting, or voter registration in general, call Tantiado at 989-0258.