Social Media as New Battleground for Philippine Politics?

1. Social Media as the new battleground for
Electoral Campaign?
A.P
. Anghay , MDMG , DPA

2. 1. Will social media be an effective platform for Political Campaign?

3. “ The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it is considering
modifying its rules and processes for the 2022 national and local
elections due to the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
pandemic. These include the possibility of virtual debates among
presidential candidates, safety protocols, and changes in absentee voting.
As you all know, we have a committee on ‘new normal’ which will handle
on how the elections are prepared and how elections will be performed or
done. We anticipate the elections will be happening while the COVID-19
is still there,” said Comelec Commissioner Marlon S. Casquejo during the
briefing.
- face-to-face campaigning is risky during a pandemic.
Electoral Campaign: under the “new normal”

4. “The upcoming 2022 national elections would be different than the others due to the
presence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which a Commission on Elections (Comelec)
official believes would make candidates rely heavily on social media campaigns.
Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said on Thursday that she doubts the country
can actually achieve herd immunity before the 2022 polls in May 2022, adding that not
even half of the 60 million registered voters may be vaccinated against COVID-19 by
that time.”
Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1457523/2022-elections-a-game-changer-
campaigns-will-be-reliant-on-social-media-guanzon#ixzz70Mij7gaH
2022 elections a ‘game changer’; campaigns to be reliant on social media —
Guanzon

12. DIGITAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN STRATEGIES AND TECHNIQUES
• Positive Campaigning – design for positive image of your
candidates
• Negative Campaigning ( Special Ops , Keyboard Warrior by
using fake accounts etc.)
 The empowering growth of internet has created a pathway for
politics to use social media strategy. Social media has changed the
approach of political communication and politicians and political
parties are opting social media for new way of connecting with
voters.

13. Duterte Presidential campaign using Social Media: from
Davao to National Headlines
The Philippines is prime Facebook country—smartphones
outnumber people, and 97 percent of Filipinos who are online
have Facebook accounts.
Duterte hired strategists who helped him transform his modest
online presence, creating an army of Facebook personalities and
bloggers worldwide. His large base of followers—enthusiastic and
often vicious—was sometimes called the Duterte Die-Hard
Supporters, or simply DDS.

14. Tapang = against illegal
drugs , criminality,
corruption
Malasakit- concern for the
poor/poverty
Remember: Election is a battle of a campaign message.
It is a battle of information and communication. Most
of the time , elections can be won or lost based on
emotions not on logic.

15. Pres. Rodrigo Duterte of Davao City has different brand of politics. He
is known as a tough crime buster, the Time Magazine nicknamed him as
“the Punisher”. Duterte made Davao City as one of the only three areas
in the World to have the Integrated emergency Response System 911
as Top 25 Best Practices in the Philippines (Davao City Government
website, February 25, 2012)
Perception of the people for
then Mayor Duterte
Anti-Crime
and tough
guy??

16. Perception
 Perception is way of regarding, understanding, or
interpreting something; or a mental impression.
 Our personality and professional image sets the tone and
stage for how we are all perceived. With the reality of a 24/7
online media world that can change things in a real-time split
second, one small wrong move or right move can go viral
and change everything. (perception is political branding work
for a politician )

18. Campaign Strategy
 Before Pandemic
 Ground Campaign –
85%
 Air Campaign- 15%
 Pandemic Time
 Ground Campaign –
70%
 Air Campaign – 30 %

23. For millennials, social media is the lifeline of information (or
misinformation). Social media can provide free advertisement,
highlight important advocacy work, make speeches and statements
readily available, and help candidates promote their campaign
messages widely and freely
For better or for worse, social media can also create an obsessive
focus on one or two issues, magnify candidates’ warts and pores, poke
fun at their looks or voices, amplify a misstep, an insensitive remark,
expose a prejudice or bias – and all for all the world to see and hear in
real time without delay.
After May 2016, elections in the Philippines will never be the same
again. As the campaigns have shown, social media (without editorial
restraint) can throw decency out the window, divide families, unfriend
friends, block would-be friends, and unleash rabid supporters that
make The Walking Dead look like little more than a Halloween

24.  In an election, the political candidate relays, transmits,
conveys, broadcasts, prints, emails, tweets and post
messages. Electoral campaign is a battle of messages,
a battle of information and communication. It’s about
“winning the hearts and mind of the voters”
 Campaign message must be as clear and simple as it
can possibly to persuade voters.
ex. “Tapang at Malasakit Tama”

25.  “Social media was a game changer in 2016 in the sense
that it amplified the news whether fake news,
misinformation, or disinformation [or truth]. Now in
2019, it was also used by a lot of the political
candidates . ocial media platforms will continue to be the
vehicle for campaigning” because of limitations brought by
the global health crisis. She urged the public to watch out for
fake news or misinformation since this will greatly affect their
decision on who to vote for. - PPCRV Executive Director Maribel
Buenaobra told CNN Philippines’

26. END