After EDSA 2, the fight goes on for cyber warriors
March 8, 2001 | 12:00am
An enduring lesson of EDSA 2 is what the power of individuals from various sectors working together for a common cause can do. Add new technology to the equation and you have a potent weapon of social change.
Take the story of Vicente "Enteng" Romano III, an ordinary concerned citizen who had had enough of the jueteng scandal so he took it upon himself to launch his own protest against corruption in government, in cyberspace.
But his was not the usual shout-till-you’re hoarse razzmatazz.
Known in business circles as a technology management consultant, Romano put a little consumer savvy into good use and made history by putting up on the Internet last Oct. 25 what could well have been the Philippines’ first ever cyber signature campaign, the now famous www.elagda.com.
The site called for Estrada’s immediate resignation from office in the wake of revelations made by Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson on the alleged direct involvement of the First Family in illegal gambling. Lagda is Filipino for signature. Elagda, hence, is the vernacular term for electronic signature. It was an experiment in cyberspace activism.
It showcased the birth and growth of a new language and mode of political dissent  one that is at once instantaneous and ubiquitous.
"It’s like a mass action or street demonstration in cyberspace," Romano said. The site, in a short time, easily became one of the most popular places to visit in the Filipino corner of the Internet. Its intention was to send petition letters  one million of them  to the President’s e-mail address [email protected]. The signatories received their respective copies of the petition so they, too, could pass it on their own to Estrada. That was when the participants transformed themselves into what Romano called eMandirigma, or cyber warriors.
He tried every trick to promote the site, asking media to publicize it and telling signatories to pass on the message to as many of their friends as possible. He also utilized the wonder of the Filipino mobile phone subculture, introducing  and this could well be another first  enlistment in the campaign through short messaging service (SMS).
The site was able to draw over 100,000 members  far less than the original one-million goal  but no matter, it was a first experiment in political dissent in cyberspace and, by the standards of the day, it could well be said that the whole exercise opened new possibilities for the ordinary citizen’s exercise of his or her right to free expression.
As Romano would write to members:
As planned, we will transform ourselves into cyber warriors  with our mice as our main weapon and the Internet as our battlefield. Henceforth on a daily basis, we will send our appeal to one individual or institution who continues to support the Estrada administration. In unison, we will proclaim our loss of faith in President Estrada. Henceforth, each of us shall be known as an eMandirigma  a e-warrior and patriot in the purest sense of the word.
When it became clear that Estrada would not budge, the cyberspace warriors shifted their focus to the impeachment trial, which opened on Dec. 7. In the language of the critical tradition, the campaign became dialogical: on one hand, the campaign’s main aim was to put pressure on the President to make him resign from office as soon as possible; on the other hand, there was the impeachment trial that could not be ignored.
But other than sending petitions to Estrada and to members of the impeachment court, Romano and a sizeable retinue of eMandirigma volunteers joined various protest marches that culminated in the heady four-day People Power II at EDSA.
The cyber warriors’ efforts were not unnoticed. At the 15th anniversary of the February 1986 civilian uprising that removed the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos from office, Romano was invited to receive the Freedom and Peace Award from the People Power Commission on behalf of cyber warriors worldwide who took part in the campaign to oust Estrada from office.
And now, the rest may be history but not www.elagda.com. After Estrada’s ouster, members pressed Romano  who now convenes an Executive Council to help him on policy matters  to keep the site up for other advocacy matters.
After much reflection and consultation, the eMandirigma Executive Council has recommended three main advocacies for the group. First, call it the Elagda Graft Commission.
"This is a comprehensive anti-graft program that will allow citizens to report, using technology, harassment and corruption," Romano said. Through a reworked website, citizens can file complaints against erring government officials.
The commission would be a collaborative work with non-governmental organizations and government bodies tasked to investigate graft and corruption, said the cyberspace activist.
He said the idea is that the commission would also do preliminary investigative work, evidence-gathering and filing and monitoring of appropriate cases in court. "We have prepared a concept paper and submitted it to a funding institution which is keenly interested in supporting this project."
He said the Elagda Graft Commission is borne out of a new vision fashioned by the Executive Council for the group: "We are a community of Filipinos, connected through technology, committed to empowering every citizen to demand, receive and ensure good governance."
Second, the group is also working on a tie-up with the Filipinos for Reform and Empowerment Through Education, Entrepreneurship and Electronic Media (FREE3) Foundation. The foundation is putting up a voters’ education site, www.ebantay.com, which will be launched on March 7 in Makati City.
The election portal will advocate honest elections and informed voting. It will also be linked with www.elagda.com and other Internet-based initiatives working on the same purpose.
But Romano said www.elagda.com will carry out its own "negative campaign" against candidates who, the civil society believes, should not be voted into office. The site will carry materials which elagda members can download, print and distribute.
"I’d like to invite designers, cartoonists and creative people to help in this area by designing half-page, 5 to 7 frame cartoon strips depicting the follies of some of our negative candidates," he said.
Offhand, he is thinking of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s infamous "species of lower life form" tirade, a lying Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile (maybe with a Pinocchio nose, announcing that he was not at Malacañang during the last days of the Estrada presidency), and of former MMDA director Jejomar Binay and Makati City mayoralty candidate, in Boy Scout uniform, directing his goons to break up the anti-Estrada rally in the heart of the country’s main financial district.
Romano wants the election campaign materials to be entertaining and easily understandable by the masses.
Third, a sustained campaign for the voting rights of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). He said this project is a long shot, considering that the May 2001 elections are just around the corner. The cyberspace activist said www.elagda.com will make sure that a new absentee voting system will be in place by the 2004 presidential elections.
The Executive Council has also been meeting to formally organize www.elagda.com as a legal entity. It is still drafting the by-laws and organizational framework of the group.
Romano is upbeat about the new direction the website is taking. Indeed, from an idea to a movement, www.elagda has taken a giant leap, tapping the deep recesses of Filipino culture and tradition to configure new terms that capture the nuances of technology, and harnessing them for a new avenue of political discourse.
Take the story of Vicente "Enteng" Romano III, an ordinary concerned citizen who had had enough of the jueteng scandal so he took it upon himself to launch his own protest against corruption in government, in cyberspace.
But his was not the usual shout-till-you’re hoarse razzmatazz.
Known in business circles as a technology management consultant, Romano put a little consumer savvy into good use and made history by putting up on the Internet last Oct. 25 what could well have been the Philippines’ first ever cyber signature campaign, the now famous www.elagda.com.
The site called for Estrada’s immediate resignation from office in the wake of revelations made by Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson on the alleged direct involvement of the First Family in illegal gambling. Lagda is Filipino for signature. Elagda, hence, is the vernacular term for electronic signature. It was an experiment in cyberspace activism.
It showcased the birth and growth of a new language and mode of political dissent  one that is at once instantaneous and ubiquitous.
"It’s like a mass action or street demonstration in cyberspace," Romano said. The site, in a short time, easily became one of the most popular places to visit in the Filipino corner of the Internet. Its intention was to send petition letters  one million of them  to the President’s e-mail address [email protected]. The signatories received their respective copies of the petition so they, too, could pass it on their own to Estrada. That was when the participants transformed themselves into what Romano called eMandirigma, or cyber warriors.
He tried every trick to promote the site, asking media to publicize it and telling signatories to pass on the message to as many of their friends as possible. He also utilized the wonder of the Filipino mobile phone subculture, introducing  and this could well be another first  enlistment in the campaign through short messaging service (SMS).
The site was able to draw over 100,000 members  far less than the original one-million goal  but no matter, it was a first experiment in political dissent in cyberspace and, by the standards of the day, it could well be said that the whole exercise opened new possibilities for the ordinary citizen’s exercise of his or her right to free expression.
As Romano would write to members:
As planned, we will transform ourselves into cyber warriors  with our mice as our main weapon and the Internet as our battlefield. Henceforth on a daily basis, we will send our appeal to one individual or institution who continues to support the Estrada administration. In unison, we will proclaim our loss of faith in President Estrada. Henceforth, each of us shall be known as an eMandirigma  a e-warrior and patriot in the purest sense of the word.
When it became clear that Estrada would not budge, the cyberspace warriors shifted their focus to the impeachment trial, which opened on Dec. 7. In the language of the critical tradition, the campaign became dialogical: on one hand, the campaign’s main aim was to put pressure on the President to make him resign from office as soon as possible; on the other hand, there was the impeachment trial that could not be ignored.
But other than sending petitions to Estrada and to members of the impeachment court, Romano and a sizeable retinue of eMandirigma volunteers joined various protest marches that culminated in the heady four-day People Power II at EDSA.
The cyber warriors’ efforts were not unnoticed. At the 15th anniversary of the February 1986 civilian uprising that removed the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos from office, Romano was invited to receive the Freedom and Peace Award from the People Power Commission on behalf of cyber warriors worldwide who took part in the campaign to oust Estrada from office.
And now, the rest may be history but not www.elagda.com. After Estrada’s ouster, members pressed Romano  who now convenes an Executive Council to help him on policy matters  to keep the site up for other advocacy matters.
"This is a comprehensive anti-graft program that will allow citizens to report, using technology, harassment and corruption," Romano said. Through a reworked website, citizens can file complaints against erring government officials.
The commission would be a collaborative work with non-governmental organizations and government bodies tasked to investigate graft and corruption, said the cyberspace activist.
He said the idea is that the commission would also do preliminary investigative work, evidence-gathering and filing and monitoring of appropriate cases in court. "We have prepared a concept paper and submitted it to a funding institution which is keenly interested in supporting this project."
He said the Elagda Graft Commission is borne out of a new vision fashioned by the Executive Council for the group: "We are a community of Filipinos, connected through technology, committed to empowering every citizen to demand, receive and ensure good governance."
Second, the group is also working on a tie-up with the Filipinos for Reform and Empowerment Through Education, Entrepreneurship and Electronic Media (FREE3) Foundation. The foundation is putting up a voters’ education site, www.ebantay.com, which will be launched on March 7 in Makati City.
The election portal will advocate honest elections and informed voting. It will also be linked with www.elagda.com and other Internet-based initiatives working on the same purpose.
But Romano said www.elagda.com will carry out its own "negative campaign" against candidates who, the civil society believes, should not be voted into office. The site will carry materials which elagda members can download, print and distribute.
"I’d like to invite designers, cartoonists and creative people to help in this area by designing half-page, 5 to 7 frame cartoon strips depicting the follies of some of our negative candidates," he said.
Offhand, he is thinking of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s infamous "species of lower life form" tirade, a lying Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile (maybe with a Pinocchio nose, announcing that he was not at Malacañang during the last days of the Estrada presidency), and of former MMDA director Jejomar Binay and Makati City mayoralty candidate, in Boy Scout uniform, directing his goons to break up the anti-Estrada rally in the heart of the country’s main financial district.
Romano wants the election campaign materials to be entertaining and easily understandable by the masses.
Third, a sustained campaign for the voting rights of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). He said this project is a long shot, considering that the May 2001 elections are just around the corner. The cyberspace activist said www.elagda.com will make sure that a new absentee voting system will be in place by the 2004 presidential elections.
The Executive Council has also been meeting to formally organize www.elagda.com as a legal entity. It is still drafting the by-laws and organizational framework of the group.
Romano is upbeat about the new direction the website is taking. Indeed, from an idea to a movement, www.elagda has taken a giant leap, tapping the deep recesses of Filipino culture and tradition to configure new terms that capture the nuances of technology, and harnessing them for a new avenue of political discourse.
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