The Philippine Online Chronicles

In a world where the Internet isn’t as prevalent, where devices which interact with the web isn’t as widespread many talk about the impact of social media and the Internet in general for the election of 2010.  The definitive answer of course will come post Election Day as people reassess where we are, and where we go.

Does it matter how deep and meaningful?  This is after all, just the beginning of a transformation of how elections are fought and won.  We are pioneers braving a whole new world.  It only gets more exciting from here on out.

Increasingly, we can all agree that the Web definitely has been a battleground.  Battle lines have been drawn.  Few have been neutral.  Cyber Soldiers have either been drafted or volunteered.  Some have been hired.

It has been a polarizing campaign.

Villar vowed justice for Luisita victims. The Truth is:

“Sugar and coconut lands were completely left out of the agrarian reform program during the Marcos regime, and so the government could not intervene in activities involving such lands, neither were benefits or protection awarded to farmers because of this. President Cory Aquino remedied the situation by including these lands in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, allowing government oversight. The CARP was enacted by Congress in 1988, and upheld by the Supreme Court in 1989.”

And in 1989, the Truth is,

“…farmer-beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita overwhelmingly approved stock distribution instead of outright land distribution. Hacienda Luisita then adopted the Stock Distibution Option (SDO), provided for by Section 3(a) of CARP.”

On the other hand, haven’t you noticed that too few people have been asking, or looking too deeply at Manny Villar’s financial holdings?

Did New Media fail us?

Manny Villar could be the next president of the Philippines and he has been spending billions, but where did he get his money? Did he get it by being a most excellent businessman? In which case, there is nothing to hide.  Did Villar commit perjury or is his wealth being money-laundered?

Did Manny Villar pay taxes?

Lila Shahani wrote an analysis of Villar’s financial growth:

“In any case, regardless of the source of the increase in his net worth, should he not have paid income taxes on them? Did he in fact do so? Dividends constructively received by individuals are subject to a final tax of 10% of the gross amount, to be withheld by the corporation-declarant. Assuming that the P700M+ “receivables” are dividends, the withholding tax would be at least P70M. BIR insiders (who were apparently too apprehensive to go on record) have privately suggested that nothing near this amount has been paid in taxes, although this has yet to be verified. Still, as this is a matter of public interest, perhaps we could prevail upon Mr Villar to address these insinuations and clear his record once and for all?”

Again, did New Media fail us?

The Election of 2010 has been a long drawn out campaign.  The web was used to its great extent. Candidate sites have been used as campaign front doors and blogs, conveyors of information and opinion, much as they’ve been used to answer each other out.

Much of social media has become a platform.  Though twitter is where the digerati gather, it is to Facebook where messages are passed along.  Discussions abound.  It is to email blasted across contacts where it gets tickled down.

Will it be the same in 2016?

The War of 2016 could find Roxas and Marcos on opposing sides of the conflict.

If technology and if devices that take advantage of Internet become prevalent in the next six years; if infrastructure develops, we could find that the election of 2016 will be a much different landscape.

Imagine campaign materials that are downloaded via phones. Campaign posters, supporter materials, a candidate's platform all sent to every mobile phone in the Philippines or across the planet.

Imagine that in 2016 it would be an iPhone or an Android app and not a candidate’s website that would be the center of a campaign.  Volunteer information directly fed and troops and actions, quickly deployed.  Campaign platforms announced via apps and fed directly into social networks.

Imagine a presidential campaign able to rally its supporters to do one thing at the same time: pain the town yellow.  Tie a yellow ribbon by your gate to show support.  Invigorate a campaign after it loses in the surveys so it can come back fighting.

Imagine that in 2016 everything is fed to social networks. Real people feeding and reading off campaigns from social networks and just think it could be the time when television and radio will mean little.  Then we can have meaningful discussions about the issues instead of a song and dance.  Then we get to talk about the merits and demerits of a particular point and be engaged by them and to learn from them and to be reshaped by them.

“What matters”, as Shirksy put it, “isn’t technical capital, it’s social capital.  These tools don’t get socially interesting, until they get technologically boring.  It isn’t when the shiny new tools show up that their uses start permeating society.  It’s when everybody is able to take them for granted.”

Think about it! Wouldn’t it be a glorious emancipation?

Wouldn’t it be best to unshackle our citizenry from the darkness of their present intellectual circumstance and merge them to the growing power of the network?

The less technologically savvy of society will be participating in the exercise: photos of vote buying, of abuse of authority, of cheating, of voter fraud will make it seem that Iran Election was the stone age.  The more people who get to be engaged with the issues, who are made more familiar with the issues, the more we get to educate the voter.

Felicity On the Ground wrote:

“Cyber activism comes hand in hand with citizen journalism. It is no joke that our media institutions are affected, at least in part, with the virus of corruption. Paid hacks and paid censorships abound (but we must not discount the media altogether).

Luckily, we are at an age where technology and the proper tools are available to us to counter whatever it is that is impeding our change for the better. Connect on Facebook, chirp on twitter, start a blog and say what you think. Speak out against the violations of the government and those who seek to be in power. All of these actions contribute to the growing body of public sentiment that will, soon enough, become so loud that the government, which chooses to ignore the people's will, cannot choose not to hear any longer. We saw it in Iran, in Burma. Make enough noise and someone will hear it. Change will happen.”

It wouldn’t matter then if that said voter belonged to the lower classes. For as long as that person is tied to the network, is tired to the ether, to the data spine, to the free flowing information, to the Internet’s nervous system, then he or she is empowered. If knowledge is power then as our citizenry becomes more technologically savvy, more technologically enriched then real discussion can increase.

If today, the Digerati amongst you interacts with the campaign on Twitter and on Facebook and via email, just imagine how much more powerful it will be when everyone is on it.

Of course this is a pipe dream.  We’re wishing upon a shooting star.

A digital future like this can only be found when true Internet Freedom is guaranteed for every Filipino.

A digital future is only guaranteed when local networks are reliable, affordable and has achieved true broadband.

A digital future like that is only guaranteed when devices that take advantage of that network exist and when the citizenry gets it all.

It is tough, given the current conditions Filipino society is currently facing.

It is tough, when we must fight tooth and nail first for our citizenry to understand the true value of the network and how much more it can make lives so much better.

It is tough, given market conditions and economic capability of Filipinos.

It is tough when too few understand the full potential of this network.

It is tough when there is a power crisis.

It is tough when people do not see the depth and breath of it.

Wouldn’t it be great that in six years, Filipinos will be unshackled from the bondage of ignorance?  Wouldn’t it be great that for the Campaign of 2016 we will find our citizenry, knee deep in democracy, participating via a mobile future, interacting with candidates in a level that would undoubtedly surpass this election’s?

Wouldn’t it be great if there were an app for Democracy?

Perhaps one day, if not for the Election of 2016, the shortest path to a ballot would be from a personal mobile device and a fraud free canvassing would take hours, not days. Wouldn’t that be the real automated election when for a ballot there would be an app for that as well?

Photo by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado. Some Rights Reserved.

Screenshots of Halalan 2010 iPhone/iPod app by author.