MANILA, Philippines– The campaign banners and posters are down now. The horrible jingles aren’t ringing in my ears anymore. I’m shaking my head a little less. And all is quiet on the cyber front.  Almost.

But PHvote 2013 is finally over.

I was born in the United States and became a Philippine citizen when I joined Rappler. I chose to become a dual-citizen not just to make things easier, but to remind myself that I’m not here serving a foreign country. I’m serving my country.

The election season was already in full swing when I arrived. I was thrown into the fire. If there was one word I’d choose to describe Philippine elections it would be “wild.”

Dynasties are abound in the Philippines. Political violence, corruption and vote buying are the norm, especially around this time of year. While social illnesses may be endemic in the Philippines, they are not isolated.  

Cincinnati, New York City and Chicago were controlled by corrupt bosses at one point in history. Hooverville’s or American versions of shantytowns also spread through the US during the great depression. As late as 2012, 32,000 people reportedly died by the gun in the US, a lot of it due to gang violence. Many families and parents have lost their jobs and homes over the past 10 years.

While America is lovely at the surface, it is far from paradise. The Philippines is definitely not America, nor should it try to be.  

First lesson: There are no party lines

No party lines

It became clear that political parties here were anything but clear. Who were the conservatives? Who were the liberals? It’s not as obvious as the difference between the Republicans or Democrats, or even as clear as the Tea Party or the Green Party.

Then there were the partylists and coalitions that made even less sense.  

What were the ideological differences between Team PNoy and UNA? According to most of the experts I encountered, there were none. This might be a simplistic or even elementary way of looking at it, but the only difference I saw, literally, were their colors. It was not ideology that aligned these parties, coalitions and lists, but a machine to get each other elected.

Over here, politics is personal.

One example where the lines blur was the RH battle.  The bill was signed into law on Dec 28, 2012, but is currently under a status quo ante order by the Supreme Court.  

Support for the controversial measure was not black and white. The Nationalist People’s Coalition, Liberal Party and Nacionalista Party did not take a party stand on the RH bill and voted according to their “conscience.”

Planned Parenthood in the US, a program similar to the pending RH bill, faced possible axing last year as well.  US media reports that two Republicans in Congress and multiple GOP-controlled state legislatures have introduced bills to pull out funding from the program. But most of the time, understanding how one will vote was as easy as looking at which party he or she belonged to. 

Things got heated during an Akbayan press conference when Anakbayan barged in and started shouting at Akbayan Rep Walden Bello and other attendees. The ruckus between partylist groups was apparently about whether Akbayan was really marginalized or not (as they claim to be, because of their relationship with the administration).  Decorum was thrown out the window.  

Another Rappler reporter Carmela Fonbuena, who covered the 2012 presidential elections in the US, brought up a good point. She said that while there are many here who think a two-party system would work better, the two-party system also has it’s drawbacks. In both houses of the US Congress there are lots of things not being done.

A thousand ways to cheat

Maybe there’s not really a thousand ways, but it sure feels like it. The social media team was briefed by PHvote editor Miriam Grace Go a few days prior to the elections. This was the first challenge to my optimism. I’m a big believer in journalism for social change, that’s why I was excited to come here. But it seemed like no matter how hard watchdog groups and media worked to protect votes, there was always a way around it.  

She talked about bussing in flying registrants also known as hakot, delisting of opponents from voters’ lists, vote shaving, adding dead people to the voters list, and so much more!

It was an eye-opener for us. My jaw dropped at some of the details I heard. Why were we spending so much energy on covering this then? Nonetheless, the show had to go on.  

There had been electoral controversies in America in the past, including the hanging chads in Florida during the 2000 presidential race between Al Gore and George Bush, but nothing compares to the wild Philippine elections.

One day, two of my colleagues were discussing political killings and cheating so nonchalantly as I eavesdropped behind them. It said more about the norms in Philippine society rather than it did about them. It was obvious that cheating, violence, and other election-related chaos happens so frequently that it’s the norm.  But it shouldn’t be.

“I’m not laying out on the table this ugly part of the registration to dishearten you,” Go said in her article Cheats are messing with the voters’ list. Go urged voters to be vigilant.  

On the cyber front

The new battlefront for Philippine politicians is cyberspace. This is where we came in. The social media team fielded questions, engaged in community conversations, and monitored the situation across the Philippines.  

Latest estimates say between 30 to 40 million Filipinos are online and around the same number are connected to social media. Most candidates had at least some presence online.

During the analysis program, Go, among other guests, agreed that presence on social media does not translate into votes. Risa Hontiveros and Dick Gordon, for instance, had a strong social media presence but did not make it to the top 12.  

But what we did, I hope, was to help plant the seeds and help empower netizens to inform themselves and recognize the importance of guarding their votes. Rappler’s #rstream, #votewatch and #PCOSdelivery, were just some of the tools we used to help.

There was excitement, stress and an air of worry at Rappler’s social media desk. Were our efforts going to be in vain?

Then something magical happened.

Magic moment

The evening before the elections, our traffic began to spike dramatically, but this time it wasn’t Kris Aquino or Binibining Pilipinas that was causing it. Practically on their own, voters were reading senatorial profiles, election related stories, and other content on PHvote that would help them make a better decision on election day.  It was beautiful.

When election day came, citizens were being vigilant, engaged and sent in reports to #votewatch and our MovePH team. And once Rappler’s Mirror Server went live, the rest was history.

Even if change doesn’t come in an instant, it was inspiring to see everyone do his or her part to take control of  democracy, especially the youth.

These problems will not go away tomorrow, the next year, or even in 5 years. But the hope of the country is there, it’s alive. The country will find it’s own way to a better democracy — and not necessarily America’s way.

Covering the elections was very intense and grueling, but worth every second — especially getting to work with others at our Bayanihan Center elections headquarters who had the same goal. All for the love of journalism, country and democracy. 

This has been quite a welcome home. – Rappler.com