According to the United Nations, political participation comes from our innate right, in a democracy or not, to freedom of speech, assembly, and association. To which derives the right to be in formal politics, at all levels. This is basically the strata from which the common form of political participation we enjoy is derived from: suffrage, campaigns, and partaking in political parties. But political participation doesn't just end there; its reaches go as far as non-governmental organizations, networks, unions, and the media.
At the wake of modernity, comes the ease of access to a particular channel where people could exercise political participation— the media. In the age of smartphones and seemingly unobstructed connectivity, there comes the unprecedented barrage of opinions, articles, information, and propaganda in the platform of the internet wherein every person who comes into contact with them has the liberty to give insights, their own opinions, and possibly propagate it.
In the political environment of the populists-rampant Philippines, there exist multiple pressure groups and advocates which I consider as actors in what we define as political participation in the internet, or web politics.
Basically, anyone who has an internet connection can become political participants, so long as it expresses anything direct or indirect towards the government, or politics in other words; but we are here to identify dominant actors in the political environment.
1) League of Filipino Students - National
The premier anti-imperialist organization, or so it says, the League of Filipino Students has only amassed 25,527 likers in facebook without its partners of regional LFS pages. Its content consists of defacing the government regarding its allegedly anti-poor and neoliberal policies, posts regarding the conditions of marginalized people and sectors, and the conditions of unions in the country. As an actor, the League of Filipino Students give information not readily available in mainstream media. Primarily because these information consists of the infringment of constitutional rights and the law itself, which is quite dangerous for the government who is struggling for public opinion.
2) Richard Foronda Heydarian
In his recent posts he places the Philippines' maritime dispute with China on the situation between the 22 fishermen. He says, I quote, " Wag kc kayo maniwala sa Mayor na yan, hindi familiar sea global affairs masyado..." on his post. As it sounds like someone from a normal baby-boomer ranting about defending national sovereignty and opposing the actions of the current administration, he is a professor and an analyst with an outstanding 107,369 likers and 108,502 followers on his facebook page alone. Which means he has a huge audience he could influence using only his posts.
3) For the Motherland - Sass Rogando Sasot
Sass Rogando, a Manila Bulletin columnist, is a staunch supporter of the government. As it implies, she publishes multiple posts a day which I categorize as propaganda for the government as suggested by her multiple posts on her facebook page regarding the relations between the Philippines and China. In her posts, she expresses much disdain towards the left and the opposition. As a political actor, she normalizes a sinophilia as she steadily supports chinese influences in our country to lenghts such as defending the administration's inaction towards the 22 fishermen whose boat was allegedly rammed. She has 703,142 likers and 729,690 followers in her facebook page; quite a lot of people exposed to pro-Duterte sentiments.
References :
Perelli, C. (2015). Women and Elections. United Nations, pp.33-34.
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