The Philippine Online Chronicles

Such hope for the citizenry especially for the social media users can be found in President Aquino’s Inaugural address.

“We will strengthen the process of consultation and feedback. We will strive to uphold the constitutional right of citizens to information on matters of public concern.

We relived the spirit of People Power during the campaign. Let it take us to good and effective governance. Those who believe in people power put the welfare of others before their own.”

It was a challenge to get an interview appointment with presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino prior to the official campaign period. By fate (or was it our persistence?), Maria Montelibano chanced upon Blog Watch in the list of interview request when she took over as Communications head during the last week of December 2009. Though it took some time for the final schedule, the live Noynoy interview took place even if he rambled and answered questions in a circuitous manner. I was just happy that he took the challenge of the two-hour live chat with bloggers.

It was then a pleasant surprise that media accreditation for the Inauguration was granted to Blog Watch despite the candid criticisms I shared in social media.

Despite our diverse backgrounds and interests in Blog Watch, it is our love for this country that binds us together and our desire to see the new administration “chart the way to ridding it of the moral and economic malaise it is in now and make this a far better country for future generations.”

Atty. Edwin Lacierda mentioned that “after he assumes the presidency, Aquino will hold a weekly presscon on top of briefings presided over by his spokespersons.” The opportunity to ask for the role of social media users and bloggers came during the first official media briefing. Good news awaited me when I was told that the new administration acknowledge the role of bloggers as citizen watchdogs. Secretary Lacierda admitted to being a blogger himself and assured that the Communications group which is still being finalized will include something for social media and give bloggers a chance to interact with the administration. If plans push through, the Aquino administration will be the first in the country to utilize blogging as a legitimate feedback mechanism for government.

Social media users in the Philippines

The presence of Jane Uymatiao and myself in Malacanang Palace on June 30 surprised a few of my twitter friends .

• mlq3 @momblogger hanep seeing you at palace presscon, isn't that a historic first?

• @tjmanotoc sign of things to come? historic? blogger @momblogger noemi dado part of accredited media here :) wil we see bloggers in Malacanang Press Corp?http://twitpic.com/216l20 #blogwatch (and eventually became part of the In tweets of the day :Inauguration Special)

• @jimayson Mainstream media loses its monopoly RT @momblogger: I asked Atty. Lacierda the importance of social media users in a citizenry.

• I_amHologram @momblogger Great news! Happy Social Media Day! In solidarity, I beamed into the blogosphere http://imhologram.wordpress.com/ #blogwatch

Blogs, a subset of social media, are not here to replace mainstream media and in fact will complement their news coverage. Our strength lies in our independent editorial policies, interaction with our communities and ability to spread information virally. It is a fact that social media users have “self-contained communities with common interests that can mobilize at a moment’s notice for emergencies like Ondoy.” The new administration plans to embrace social media to disseminate the government’s programs especially for our youth who barely watch television or read newspapers. When under attack, the new president can even tap social media to rally his supporters around him.

June 30 also happened to be Social Media day, a day to celebrate the revolution of media being social. What a day to celebrate social media day as bloggers took part in making history.

In the Philippines, social media has four distinct areas namely, social networking, user-generated content, community groups/forums and blogging. Social media usage varies depending on factors such as income. According to Jay Bautista, “lower-income individuals concentrate on consuming content, whether user-generated content such as online video or social networking updates. Those with higher education and better income are more likely to multi-task, creating as well as consuming social media.”

It appears that the new administration is aware of the staggering growth of social media usage and search being the number one activity among Filipino internet users.

Media handling

Concrete plans are waiting to be executed. because as of this writing, the head of the communications group has yet to be decided. I was not aware that there was a faction between two groups of the presidential camp according to media reports. The citizenry is certainly divided in their votes but are willing to work it out with the new administration. If the new administration is sincere in a participative citizenry, these so-called factions will work towards President Aquino’s message of striving “ to uphold the constitutional right of citizens to information on matters of public concern.”

Carlos Conde says that the “in-fighting between these two camps is supposedly threatening the formation of Aquino’s communications office in lieu of the office of the press secretary. (Right now, Aquino does not have a press secretary. He only has his spokesman Edwin Lacierda to deal with the press. Lacierda is identified with the LP/Hyatt 10 group.)”

“LP/Hyatt 10 group is pushing for the appointment of broadcaster Ricky Carandang as communications director and presidential historian and newspaper columnist Manuel Quezon III as the “content guy” in the team, one who oversees the message to be relayed to the public by the communications team.

Montelibano, a cousin of Aquino’s, is said to be opposed to Carandang and Quezon and is pushing for Sonny Coloma, a newspaper columnist, to head the communications group.”

Montelibano believes “there is a need to re-organize government media organizations and structures to respond to the needs of the times where there must be active participation of the citizenry with the presidency utilizing crowd sourcing and technology.”

The two factions confuse me. I can only surmise that it is probably a matter of control and loyalty on Montelibano’s end . While I have first-hand experience with Montelibano’s progressive stand towards bloggers, I also believe that Ricky Carandang and Manolo Quezon are highly qualified to work in the communications teams. In fact, I believe that Manolo has the capability of understanding both tri-media and social media more than Ricky Carandang. He is also easy to talk to even if we don’t share the same views.

If both of them were working with Secretary Lacierda on Day 1, bloopers would have been avoided or at best minimized.

A participative citizenry needs freedom of information

It is not enough that social media users have access to the new administration. Power must be given back to the people by giving them access to information. Aquino explicitly states it in his Inaugural address. The Freedom of Information Act (FOI) "turns on" the right given to every Filipino to go to government and get any piece of information for whatever purpose. It is our right to be informed. This legislation is intended to liberate and empower the people. Sadly the Freedom of Information bill was scrapped in the last Congress. It was supposed to be a landmark piece of legislation that will lift the shroud of secrecy over government transactions and data — will be a priority of his administration.

Although our right to information is already embedded in our Constitution, the lack of an enabling law makes it very difficult and expensive for the common Juan or Juana to gain access to information that is supposed to be public in the first place.

A participative citizenry have the right to know. Right now!

Break the impasse

Aquino needs to “translate its commitment to transparency into clear policies and concrete action” and promptly convey to Congress his unequivocal support for the immediate passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill. He can also consider enrolling his support for the FOI bill in his first State of the Nation Address on July 26, as well as through an appropriate message to Congress certifying the necessity of its immediate enactment.”

President Aquino cannot keep apologizing for his Cabinet men. He should break the impasse by declaring who the persons are who have his trust and confidence and can communicate his message to the people. At the end of the day , the decision has to be made by President Aquino alone. His followers will toe the line if he shows decisiveness. They will fall behind him and support him.

He needs to show he is decisive now and start thinking about the welfare of the Filipino people as he eloquently delivered in his Inaugural address.