Sports personalities have already made their voices heard in the 2025 national elections.
Several of the country’s most prominent sports personalities showed up at the polls on Monday, May 12, to cast their votes for the 2025 national elections—proving once again that patriotism extends beyond the field of play.
Athletes, broadcasters, and legends from various sports made their way to precincts across the country, many of them encouraging fellow Filipinos to do the same. Their participation not only emphasized the power of the individual vote but also highlighted the role public figures can play in promoting democratic engagement.
“Done voting para sa bayan 🇵🇭,” PBA legend James Yap wrote on Instagram, joining a chorus of athletes who used their platforms to underscore the importance of voting.
Former Ateneo standout and current broadcast journalist Gretchen Ho detailed her experience at the polling place, recounting a brief delay due to issues with the vote-counting machine.
“After our morning news, I went straight to my precinct to vote! With a neck-and-neck senatorial race, the individual ballot becomes even more powerful!
The whole process took me about 45 to an hour, not because lines were long, but because our ACM was pretty sensitive. One of the voters here wasn’t printed her receipt. Apparently, the ACM might have missed scanning her ballot, so the Comelec advised to give her a new ballot to do the whole process all over again. An incident report will be filed alongside that. Any kind of fold or crumpling could also affect the scanning by the ACM,” she posted.
Sportscaster Jinno Rufino, another influential voice in the sports community, echoed the call for active participation.
“Voting isn’t just a right—it’s a responsibility. We owe it to ourselves and to the next generation to show up and demand better,” he posted.
The sports community’s active involvement in the electoral process sends a strong message: being a game-changer doesn’t stop at sports.
Whether it's sinking a buzzer-beater, acing a serve, or shading a ballot, every action counts—para sa bayan
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