By John Mark V. Tuazon
Computerworld Philippines
January 15, 2010

The candidates in the upcoming 2010 elections are expected to leverage the powers of the Internet in furthering their campaigns, but keeping the numbers in check—especially election spending—remains a dicey issue, a representative from Comelec (Commission on Elections) admitted Thursday.

The commission said it has already expected the pivotal role the Internet will play in the upcoming elections, especially with the recent boom in network infrastructure and social networking. “Since 2007, we have expected [election] campaigns to shift online by 2010,” remarked James Jimenez, spokesperson of Comelec, during the launch of PoliticalArena.com, an election information resource and networking website.

This shift, however, poses instant problems that need to be approached carefully, particularly the issue of campaign spending. Citing the provisions on “free speech” afforded by the constitution, Jimenez said cyberspace remains a gray area for regulation, especially during elections. “Regulating the [Internet usage of the candidates] is beyond the capability of the Comelec,” he said. “We are leery with regards to that issue.”

Jimenez said cyberspace is difficult to regulate especially with various issues of jurisdiction that abound in the transcendental world of the Internet. “It’s a big stumbling block for us, especially because it goes against the idea of democracy,” he added.

The Comelec spokesperson shared that they did an informal study on the campaign efforts of candidates online, but establishing the metrics turned out to be “really difficult.” “It’s hard to determine the budget they allot for online,” Jimenez lamented. “Will you include, for example, the money they spent paying for a lunch with bloggers?”

Counter-efforts
In the vague issue of election regulation online, Jimenez said the Comelec is helpless for now. However, the election landscape is also being changed by counter-efforts of information dissemination pushed by citizen initiatives such as PoliticalArena.com.

An advocacy by the same company that owns 88DB, a yellow pages website, and JobsDB.com, a job market site, PoliticalArena.com claims to be the first political social networking site in the Philippines, which aims to raise awareness and provide a platform for political debate about the upcoming elections.

“In the past, the ability to inform the citizens is constrained by the limits of the medium,” Jimenez explained. “PoliticalArena.com makes sure that information is available all the time.”

Jimenez said citizen information drives elevate the level of discussion during elections, and forces citizens to think along the lines of platform- and issues-based discourse, not just personality politics. “People now are getting more involved, and sites like PoliticalArena.com offer a different perspective from what they see and hear in traditional media,” he added.

Fresh from a recent revamp, the “Facebook of Philippine Politics” features pertinent information about national candidates, a page on relevant issues with answers from the different campaigning camps, and a question and answers space where members can directly ask any question to any of the candidates, among others.

Since its initial launch in June 2009, the site has already garnered around 1,358,501 page views, 396,746 absolute unique visits (logged visitors from a single IP), and 4,500 members coming from various countries such as Philippines, China, United States, and Saudi Arabia.

“We intend to provide the platform for conversation, but we are allowing all our users and the candidates to provide the content for the website,” said Racquel Cagurangan, general manager, PoliticalArena.com.

To date, PoliticalArena.com houses around 2,000 photos, 500 videos, and at least 160 blog entries, all user-generated content. CMS (content management system) access is afforded to camps of the official candidates, enabling them to post content on their own pages. “But we don’t allow them to customize. Everything is standard for all candidates,” Cagurangan clarified.

Most members, Cagurangan shared, ask more on pertinent issues that concern the nation, instead of mudslinging unfounded accusations on candidates. Among the most active candidates participating in the website, on the other hand, include JC Delos Reyes, Richard Gordon, Manny Villar, and Gilbert Teodoro. “We really encourage them to answer questions especially when thrown queries concerning them,” Cagurangan said.

After the elections, Cagurangan said they are planning to turn the website into a watchdog tool that will monitor the activities of the administration and opposition camps in the next installed government. “We are also looking into using it as a tool to see if the Millennium Development Goals are achieved, which set 2015 as the deadline for participating countries,” she added.

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