Cyber-activism & good governance
April 21, 2001 | 12:00am
"We are a community of Filipinos, connected through technology, committed to empowering every citizen to demand, receive and ensure good governance." – eLagda mission and vision statement
The freedom of cyberspace has redefined our understanding of politics and inevitably, governance – in unprecedented ways. Indeed, it has expanded our notion of civic life to one that is at once dynamic as it is evolving, thanks to the mediation of technology. In the case of a cyberspace community like www.elagda.com, it has demonstrated the potential of new technology to enhance the participation of citizens in national affairs.
Starting off as a one-page, Web-based campaign for the ouster of the Bad Man of contemporary Philippine politics, it has now evolved into what its lead moderator, Vicente "Enteng" Romano III, calls a "vanguard site of good governance."
Indeed, eLagda set a record of sorts in history, when, at the height of the campaign to oust former President Joseph Estrada from power, some 115,000 Filipinos from various walks of life and points of the world took part in a series of protests – Internet-based and otherwise – initiated by the cyberspace community.
A high point in the eLagda campaign was the International Day of Protest it organized last Dec. 13 before the Senate impeachment trial. With only two weeks to prepare, eLagda organized more than 60 geographically based cell groups or chapters. Members, most of whom had met only in cyberspace, took to the streets on the appointed day to voice out a unified and synchronized message – Erap Resign Now!
On that historic day, Filipino communities from such diverse locations as New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto, Sydney, Germany, Sweden, Riyadh, Jeddah, United Arab Emirates, Al-khobar, Hong Kong, Japan, Manila, Cebu and Davao participated in protest marches in their locations. For this, the People Power Commission recognized the cyberspace community as one of the recipients of the Freedom and Peace Award given to the Filipino people in the wake of EDSA Dos.
People Power II will be remembered as a peaceful populist call for political reform made possible by the convergence of old and new media: short messaging service or texting, Internet, radio, television and newspapers.
That an initiative like eLagda is largely an effort of civic-minded citizens – and thus, without the trappings of vested political interests – makes it all the more politically reinvigorating.
A liberal democracy such as ours thrives on citizens who have a self-understanding of the limits and possibilities of their rights, divergent as they are. Civil society – that broad social movement that cuts across classes and cultures – that is responsive to the needs of our liberal democratic institutions is able to marshal such diversity for a common purpose.
This means that citizens are able to see beyond their religion, economic standing or education to work with others as free and equal individuals on a set of goals for the survival of the democratic polity. It is not an easy task, considering the continuing tension resulting from differing values and ideals.
American philosopher Thomas Bridges, who has written extensively on civic life in the postmodern era, argued that citizens, while they remain deeply committed to what he called "communitarian identities and moral identities," must be able to respect and act with fellow citizens who belong to different communities and hold on to a different set of ideals.
"Attainment of this capacity to put aside or to unplug the primary moral language and moral identity that give meaning and direction to everyday life is an extraordinary moral and linguistic accomplishment," he said.
"The struggle to achieve the insight and judgment necessary to develop this capacity fully is fraught with danger and difficulty. This struggle is the source of the moral pathos of citizenship. The rhetorical task of a civic moral ideal is to produce in citizens a desire for this accomplishment strong enough to permit them to persevere in this struggle."
For eLagda, this, at the very least, means bringing together people from various communities into an experiment in good governance using technology. "We are a community of Filipinos," states its mission and vision statement, "connected through technology, committed to empowering every citizen to demand, receive and ensure good governance."
Thus, we find Romano working with people from diverse religions and social backgrounds on a project like eLagda. In a message he read at the launching of the re-engineered site last April 2, he explained that early on, the people behind the movement had recognized the diversity of eLagda’s constituency.
"This was made evident early in the anti-Erap campaigns and the post-EDSA II civil society initiatives," he said. "At the same time, we can sense there is unity in purpose. All are one in the aspiration for good governance. The programs and strategies may at times be at cross-purposes, but the end goals are usually the same."
How does he propose to deal with differences in opinion that beset any organization, including a virtual one like eLagda? Romano said that rather than break up into splinter groups whenever there are irreconcilable differences in ideas and directions, eLagda advocates maximum tolerance and admonishes members to allow the democratic processes to take its due course in the selection of programs.
"Let the idea, which may not always be the best, but at all times acceptable to the most number of people, prevail," he said. "And let all others support the resulting programs and projects, even when they voted against them."
elagda is run by an Executive Council, which lays down policies and administers its various projects. Members may propose a project to the Council which, in turn, passes it on to the various eLagda communities here and abroad for deliberation. Feedback from the communities is forwarded to the Council for final discussion. Technology makes all this real.
Understandably, eLagda has focused on the May 14 elections. There is the negative campaign project, which it carries out via the Internet and SMS or text messaging. The targets: Estrada’s lackeys who are running for senator like Edgardo Angara, Dong Puno, Ping Lacson, Orlando Mercado, Loi Ejercito, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Noli de Castro and Gringo Honasan.
The site is also campaigning against local candidates who exemplify what it calls the evil of traditional politics: Ronaldo Zamora, Alfredo Lim, Jejomar Binay, Baby Asistio and Estrada’s sons Jinggoy and JV. These candidates betrayed the public trust, according to eLagda, and never again should they be voted into public office.
Elagda recognizes the fact that the Internet is accessible to only a limited number of Filipinos. To allow the negative campaign to reach the broad masses, the site offers downloadable campaign materials like comic strips that may be reproduced in large quantity for distribution to local churches and communities.
But the cyberspace community has not yet endorsed the 13-0 battlecry of the Arroyo administration, although the website prominently features nine People Power Coalition candidates to vote for. They are Franklin Drilon, Serge Osmeña III, Juan Flavier, Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Wigberto Tañada, Joker Arroyo, Manny Villar, Ernesto Herrera and Solita "Winnie" Monsod. "They fought for what is right, often at great risk to their political standing," says the site. "Let us give them a chance to serve the people."
According to Romano, the Executive Council has yet to decide whether the community should take up the 13-0 campaign of the Arroyo administration. To help the Council decide, the website is running a poll on this issue. An alternative question is whether eLagda should endorse the candidacies of the four other PPC candidates, namely Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, Roberto "Obet" Pagdanganan, Liwayway Vinzons-Chato and Ralph Recto. The poll ends April 22.
In line with the elections, eLagda has linked up with an electoral portal called www.eBantay.com, which is run by the FREE3 Foundation. The portal encourages citizens to vote wisely, offering a profile of candidates and election analyses and trends.
Interested people can participate in eLagda’s advocacy for good governance in several ways. They can join as members of local chapters and special interest groups or help in the text-brigade for the quick dissemination of campaign information. Those who have an existing cyberspace community may also affiliate with eLagda.
Those working in government may consider being the eyes and ears of the community in its anti-graft campaign. This is a project that, indeed, offers many possibilities. As part of the good governance theme, eLagda will publish in the website the Statements of Assets and Liabilities (SALs) of government officials so their constituents may know what interests they represent in government or whether they have accumulated wealth in an honest way.
The last point brings us to a second eLagda project: an anti-graft portal. The site allows citizens to report incidents of harassment and corruption in government, and link up with the appropriate agencies to investigate and prosecute erring government officials. Called the anti-graft commission, it encourages citizens to report government wrongdoing through the Internet. A concept paper is being drawn up to lay down the details of the project.
Lastly, eLagda is also pushing for the voting rights of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). It intends to lobby this issue and make it one of the top 10 legislative concerns of the 12th Congress so that by the year 2004, a system of absentee voting using the latest technology will be in place.
Only a year ago, eLagda was one ambitious project. After EDSA Dos, everything has become possible for the Internet movement. There is, of course, the caveat against succumbing to technology as a quick-fix solution to our social problems. Technology can only do so much in a situation where a large majority of citizens don’t have access to it. But when you’re talking about 115,000 informed citizens using technology as a tool for social change, you’re in for a big surprise.
The freedom of cyberspace has redefined our understanding of politics and inevitably, governance – in unprecedented ways. Indeed, it has expanded our notion of civic life to one that is at once dynamic as it is evolving, thanks to the mediation of technology. In the case of a cyberspace community like www.elagda.com, it has demonstrated the potential of new technology to enhance the participation of citizens in national affairs.
Starting off as a one-page, Web-based campaign for the ouster of the Bad Man of contemporary Philippine politics, it has now evolved into what its lead moderator, Vicente "Enteng" Romano III, calls a "vanguard site of good governance."
Indeed, eLagda set a record of sorts in history, when, at the height of the campaign to oust former President Joseph Estrada from power, some 115,000 Filipinos from various walks of life and points of the world took part in a series of protests – Internet-based and otherwise – initiated by the cyberspace community.
A high point in the eLagda campaign was the International Day of Protest it organized last Dec. 13 before the Senate impeachment trial. With only two weeks to prepare, eLagda organized more than 60 geographically based cell groups or chapters. Members, most of whom had met only in cyberspace, took to the streets on the appointed day to voice out a unified and synchronized message – Erap Resign Now!
On that historic day, Filipino communities from such diverse locations as New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto, Sydney, Germany, Sweden, Riyadh, Jeddah, United Arab Emirates, Al-khobar, Hong Kong, Japan, Manila, Cebu and Davao participated in protest marches in their locations. For this, the People Power Commission recognized the cyberspace community as one of the recipients of the Freedom and Peace Award given to the Filipino people in the wake of EDSA Dos.
People Power II will be remembered as a peaceful populist call for political reform made possible by the convergence of old and new media: short messaging service or texting, Internet, radio, television and newspapers.
A liberal democracy such as ours thrives on citizens who have a self-understanding of the limits and possibilities of their rights, divergent as they are. Civil society – that broad social movement that cuts across classes and cultures – that is responsive to the needs of our liberal democratic institutions is able to marshal such diversity for a common purpose.
This means that citizens are able to see beyond their religion, economic standing or education to work with others as free and equal individuals on a set of goals for the survival of the democratic polity. It is not an easy task, considering the continuing tension resulting from differing values and ideals.
American philosopher Thomas Bridges, who has written extensively on civic life in the postmodern era, argued that citizens, while they remain deeply committed to what he called "communitarian identities and moral identities," must be able to respect and act with fellow citizens who belong to different communities and hold on to a different set of ideals.
"Attainment of this capacity to put aside or to unplug the primary moral language and moral identity that give meaning and direction to everyday life is an extraordinary moral and linguistic accomplishment," he said.
"The struggle to achieve the insight and judgment necessary to develop this capacity fully is fraught with danger and difficulty. This struggle is the source of the moral pathos of citizenship. The rhetorical task of a civic moral ideal is to produce in citizens a desire for this accomplishment strong enough to permit them to persevere in this struggle."
For eLagda, this, at the very least, means bringing together people from various communities into an experiment in good governance using technology. "We are a community of Filipinos," states its mission and vision statement, "connected through technology, committed to empowering every citizen to demand, receive and ensure good governance."
"This was made evident early in the anti-Erap campaigns and the post-EDSA II civil society initiatives," he said. "At the same time, we can sense there is unity in purpose. All are one in the aspiration for good governance. The programs and strategies may at times be at cross-purposes, but the end goals are usually the same."
How does he propose to deal with differences in opinion that beset any organization, including a virtual one like eLagda? Romano said that rather than break up into splinter groups whenever there are irreconcilable differences in ideas and directions, eLagda advocates maximum tolerance and admonishes members to allow the democratic processes to take its due course in the selection of programs.
"Let the idea, which may not always be the best, but at all times acceptable to the most number of people, prevail," he said. "And let all others support the resulting programs and projects, even when they voted against them."
elagda is run by an Executive Council, which lays down policies and administers its various projects. Members may propose a project to the Council which, in turn, passes it on to the various eLagda communities here and abroad for deliberation. Feedback from the communities is forwarded to the Council for final discussion. Technology makes all this real.
The site is also campaigning against local candidates who exemplify what it calls the evil of traditional politics: Ronaldo Zamora, Alfredo Lim, Jejomar Binay, Baby Asistio and Estrada’s sons Jinggoy and JV. These candidates betrayed the public trust, according to eLagda, and never again should they be voted into public office.
Elagda recognizes the fact that the Internet is accessible to only a limited number of Filipinos. To allow the negative campaign to reach the broad masses, the site offers downloadable campaign materials like comic strips that may be reproduced in large quantity for distribution to local churches and communities.
But the cyberspace community has not yet endorsed the 13-0 battlecry of the Arroyo administration, although the website prominently features nine People Power Coalition candidates to vote for. They are Franklin Drilon, Serge Osmeña III, Juan Flavier, Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Wigberto Tañada, Joker Arroyo, Manny Villar, Ernesto Herrera and Solita "Winnie" Monsod. "They fought for what is right, often at great risk to their political standing," says the site. "Let us give them a chance to serve the people."
According to Romano, the Executive Council has yet to decide whether the community should take up the 13-0 campaign of the Arroyo administration. To help the Council decide, the website is running a poll on this issue. An alternative question is whether eLagda should endorse the candidacies of the four other PPC candidates, namely Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, Roberto "Obet" Pagdanganan, Liwayway Vinzons-Chato and Ralph Recto. The poll ends April 22.
In line with the elections, eLagda has linked up with an electoral portal called www.eBantay.com, which is run by the FREE3 Foundation. The portal encourages citizens to vote wisely, offering a profile of candidates and election analyses and trends.
Interested people can participate in eLagda’s advocacy for good governance in several ways. They can join as members of local chapters and special interest groups or help in the text-brigade for the quick dissemination of campaign information. Those who have an existing cyberspace community may also affiliate with eLagda.
Those working in government may consider being the eyes and ears of the community in its anti-graft campaign. This is a project that, indeed, offers many possibilities. As part of the good governance theme, eLagda will publish in the website the Statements of Assets and Liabilities (SALs) of government officials so their constituents may know what interests they represent in government or whether they have accumulated wealth in an honest way.
The last point brings us to a second eLagda project: an anti-graft portal. The site allows citizens to report incidents of harassment and corruption in government, and link up with the appropriate agencies to investigate and prosecute erring government officials. Called the anti-graft commission, it encourages citizens to report government wrongdoing through the Internet. A concept paper is being drawn up to lay down the details of the project.
Lastly, eLagda is also pushing for the voting rights of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). It intends to lobby this issue and make it one of the top 10 legislative concerns of the 12th Congress so that by the year 2004, a system of absentee voting using the latest technology will be in place.
Only a year ago, eLagda was one ambitious project. After EDSA Dos, everything has become possible for the Internet movement. There is, of course, the caveat against succumbing to technology as a quick-fix solution to our social problems. Technology can only do so much in a situation where a large majority of citizens don’t have access to it. But when you’re talking about 115,000 informed citizens using technology as a tool for social change, you’re in for a big surprise.
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