Back in 2003, our fourth quarter issue of i magazine featured Roco and his campaign strategy as one of the potential contenders for the presidential race, along with the two other declared presidential candidates — Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Panfilo Lacson — at the time.

For that edition, we interviewed their key campaign operators. I was assigned to talk to Roco’s Aksyon Demokratiko party and was able to interview its chief operating officer, Ernie Pangan. The first thing he told me then was that the elections will be very crucial because of the heightened popular disenchantment with politics and with politicians. Pangan said:

“Gulpi na ang mga tao (People feel battered already). There is a lot of cynicism (so) people will go by who is consistent, is at least telling the truth. Tama na ang bola-boladas (Enough of the crap), let’s go for who we know will give us a stable, honest, and sincere government.”

Dismissed for having no money and machinery, the Roco campaign therefore tried to make a case for a new kind of politics. Roco appealed to youth and women’s causes, was picky about campaign contributors, publicly declaring that he will not take money from drugs or jueteng, and consciously took the moral high ground on issues like the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr.

True to their word, Roco and Aksyon Demokratiko did run a nontraditional campaign that relied less on logistics and more on people. Pangan remarked then:

“How did we overcome Marcos? How did we overcome Erap? It’s not by machinery. We have to work on the people. You do a lot of organizing and educating work. You have to educate the youth that this election is theirs. They are the majority of the population. And you tell them, ‘It is in your hands. You have the power.’”

Hoping for a Roco victory (which would have signaled a tectonic shift in the nature of Philippine politics), Aksyon pinned its hopes on the electorate not to allow a wheeling-dealing, more-of-the-same kind of campaign. “If so, then we get what we deserve,” said Pangan. “If we continue believing that someone without money and machinery will lose, then we are self-defeating. Ngayon pa lang sinasabi natin na walang pag-asa ang bayang ito (This early, we’re already saying there is no hope for this country).“

Alas, Pangan’s words may have proved to be prophetic.

First, there was Yahoo!. Then, there was Yehey!. Now, there’s Yehba*.

Trust the Filipino’s penchant for spoofing just about anything to come up with an ingenious brand name. Obviously a take on two recognized online brands, at least as far as Pinoys are concerned, Yehba* is yet another mobile application — one that is being trumpeted by its developers as "a new mobile experience."

Upon the invitation of Pinoy web pioneer Jim Ayson, I attended Yehba*’s official launch today. Created by a local software development startup called D3Systems (the three Ds standing for dynamic, driven, dedicated), Yehba* — a Tagalog expression of approval or affirmation — basically offers PC-style chat and instant messaging (IM) to and between mobile phones. So one might be prodded to ask: "what’s new with that?"

Read on at Inside PCIJ.

DRAFT OF LETTER
(Bantay ICT requests to be furnished a copy of the letter you sent at j_mod@rocketmail.com for monitoring purposes.)

I am against the anti-terror bills filed in Congress, especially the provision on electronic surveillance. I feel that this provision encroaches on the people's right to privacy, freedom of expression, and communication. It threatens our personal freedom to communicate as we fear that the government will abuse this measure to conduct surveillance to minimize dissent and silence activists.

According to the provision, the government may conduct electronic surveillance and/or tap, monitor or intercept internet e-mail, voice mail, even text messages of any person suspected of being a member of a terrorist organization. If this bill will be enacted, I fear that the government may use this to target human rights activists, youth leaders, trade unionists, political oppositionists and even journalists.

In 2001, Filipinos used the power of information and communications technology (ICT) to protest against the Estrada administration. ICT became the weapon of choice of many Filipinos frustrated with Mr. Estrada's kind of governance. By sending statements and by downloading materials through the Internet, by sending millions of text messages, Filipinos all over the world were linked together and were able to topple another president in what was dubbed as the 'multimedia revolution'. If this bill will be enacted into a law, we may never have the chance to use the power of the Internet again to air our grievances.

Yes, 'terrorism' is a menace that must be stopped but not at all cost; certainly not at the expense of our right to privacy and communication. The Philippines have enough laws to combat 'terrorism'; we surely do not need this one.

No to invasion of privacy, No to the curtailment of freedom of expression and communication, No to electronic surveillance, No to anti-terrorism bill!

Truly yours,

Your Name

ONE way of checking the relevance of your Web searches is by comparing results in the various search tools available, the two most commonly used ones being Google and Yahoo!. But you don’t have to do it the old fashioned way, which is to go to each site separately.

There are a handful of good metasearchers — Dogpile, Metacrawler, and Pro Fusion — out there that allow you to do a single search with multiple search sites simultaneously. But Norwegian techie Asgeir Nilsen has figured out a novel solution that lets one search both Google, the acknowledged leader in the Web search business, and Yahoo!, the most popular web directory, at the same time. Hence, the tongue-twister of a name YaGoohoo!gle.

Just enter your keyword or search term and a set of results will be displayed in a split-screen. Try it out and do check the creator’s blog for updates and tips.