By Mary Grace Mirandilla-Santos
Asian Politics & Policy Journal, Volume 4, Issue 1, pages 134–137, January 2012
In a democracy like the Philippines, where elections are marred by a slow, manual counting process, the May 10, 2010 election offered new hope through automation. In this historic election that used precinct count optical scan machines, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III was declared the winner only nine days after canvassing. The landslide victory of “P-Noy” (shortcut for President Noynoy, his official nickname), who garnered 15.2 million or 42% of the total votes cast, was no surprise—if his online campaign platforms were enough indication. The number of P-Noy’s “fans” on his Facebook page, for example, reached an astounding 95,000 within two months of its setup, dwarfing the networks of all the other candidates.2 His cybercampaign maximized social media the most, especially in terms of providing information and mobilizing support using hyperlinks, blogs, online networks, and open-source database facilities (Mirandilla, 2009). The campaign is comparable to the strategy utilized by U.S. President Barack Obama (Bittle, Haller, & Kadlec, 2009; Lardinois, 2008). P-Noy is also the first Philippine president who directly responded to a citizen’s note on a social networking site.3
Against this background, a review of P-Noy’s current Web site under the Office of the President (OP) of the Philippines is conducted.4
Read the full review at the Wiley Online Library.
