Digital Filipino Talks: Political and Advocacy Blogging - Monitoring Campaign Promises of President Noynoy Aquino

Last February 15, 2011, Digital Filipino Talks about Political and Advocacy Blogging - Monitoring Campaign Promises of President Noynoy Aquino. Interviewed for this topic is Ms. Noemi Lardizabal-Dado, editor of blogwatch.tv (and also the mommy blogger behind A Filipino Mom Blogger).


Political and Advocacy Blogging - Monitoring Campaign Promises of President Noynoy Aquino from Janette Toral on Vimeo.

Ms. Dado discussed the importance of maintaining a political advocacy blog like blogwatch, and invites other bloggers to share and participate in discussions about the socio-political issues today.

The reason why bloggers are encouraged to discuss the issues is to form conclusions and recommendations for the betterment of our country. In some cases action will be taken if there is overwhelming sentiment like what happened to scrapped campaign of 'Pilipinas Kay Ganda' last year.

One of the issues that should be monitored is the campaign promises of our elected officials, particularly our President, PNoy.

She stated that PNoy's campaign promises, specifically the Freedom of Information (FOI) and the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, are not being pushed as expected from our president.

She made an article about her observations on PNoy's watered down promises which is posted on the blogwatch.tv site.

My Views on the topic:

PNoy for change?

Like the millions of Filipinos who voted on the last May 2010 elections, I also voted for PNoy. We voted him because we believed in his campaign, and that he is the best person qualified to make positive changes happen in our country.

That is why he should keep his campaign promises no matter what.

Although I still believe in his advocacy, sometimes I wonder if he is giving in to pressure from people around him. For the FOI bill, it would seem that the trapos (traditional/long time politicians) who rallied behind him last elections do not want this to push through. While for the RH bill, the Catholic Church is the group pressuring him not to continue. PNoy must have a hard time deciding - it's so difficult to please everyone.

The FOI bill is necessary in PNoy's campaign to minimize, if not stamp out corruption. If this becomes law, politicians will have to be transparent in their government dealings/contracts. And that won't be good for the trapos.

The RH bill is necessary to curb population explosion, but the Catholic Church denounces contraception as means of control because it goes against family principles.

Both groups who block PNoy's campaign are very influential. If I were PNoy, losing support from either one of them might cripple my capacity to lead. I hope PNoy is man enough to take control and push for whatever reforms are needed for the country.

Active discussion of the issues from fellow bloggers

I agree that it would be good if bloggers can discuss the different socio-political issues around today. However, I think that some bloggers might not want to actively partake in this kind of discussion because it may pose some risks to their well-established identity.

If a blogger becomes too politicized, some of his followers might not agree to his or her cause, and it might become a source for his or her drop in popularity. For example, if I continue to shoutout, write a blog, or twit, "I don't believe in PNoy's campaign promises", those who have strong faith in PNoy's campaign might see me in a negative way, and might look for other blogs similar to mine whose owners have no political stand.

The Wheel of Politics and Religion

Since the blogger of blogwatch.tv is a mom blogger, I would like to share what my mom taught me on the two hottest issues. She told me, "There are two topics you should try to avoid when talking to a stranger, and that is politics and religion." These two topics are so universal yet so controversial, you would take forever to argue upon, even with a close friend.

A lot of people died for keeping his faith in political figures and religion. Although I am not discouraging people from talking about them, we should also consider that our personal views on the matter must be addressed with utmost care, specially in the internet world, where views of others may clash with yours. What matters is that at the end of the discussion, an understanding should be reached.


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