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MANILA -- Catriona Gray once again encouraged her fellow Filipinos to make their voices count in the 2022 elections.

Appearing in an ABS-CBN News virtual event hosted by Karen Davila on Thursday, the former Miss Universe emphasized the importance of registering to vote in shaping the country's future.

Declaring that "we deserve better," Gray said the 2022 polls will allow Filipinos to see "the change that we want to see."

• Catriona Gray hopes more Filipinos will become voters

"I feel that I speak for so many when I say that we are so desperate for hope. There are so many different things impacting us -- and I feel weighing us down as a people -- and we deserve better. We really, really do. We deserve so much better," she stressed.

And while others may feel that their vote is "insignificant," Gray believes that "there is so much power in the collective."

"And the way that we can spark the change that we want to see in our leadership, in our country, in the welfare of our nation in general, is to utilize our voice to vote," she said.

Gray signed up as a first-time voter during the pandemic, assuring the public of the smooth registration process and venues' compliance with health and safety protocols.

"I think I've matured a lot since the last elections. Unfortunately in the 2016 elections, I was not a registered voter. I did not vote," she admitted. "So this is actually my first time to vote in an election in my whole life."

"I've taken it a step further to work alongside We the Youth Vote, which is an organization created by the concerned youth," she added, saying she will take part in the group's open panels and online discussions to engage Filipinos about voting.

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