By Niña Terol-Zialcita
Last year I published a list of “7 Resolutions You Can Do for the Philippines While Sitting Down.” This being a new year, a new decade, a great round number, we’ll expand our list a bit to 10. 
We learned in 2009 that the Internet and social media have become VERY powerful tools for demanding transparency, accountability, and better service from our public officials. What was once hidden and private (i.e., the Hayden Kho-Katrina Halili sex video scandal) was ripped wide open and escalated to the level of a Senate investigation. When the worst storm in decades hit our country, we used our mobile phones and social media to help send rescue and relief where it was most needed. (We also discovered that Metro Manila had only 13 lifeboats to use for emergencies!) When the forces of evil attempted to bury their monstrous deeds with a backhoe, a mobile phone helped avert what would have been the biggest, most horrifying cover-up of that decade.
Now, with the ubiquity of Internet access, WiFi-enabled mobile phones, and cheap computers, we have absolutely NO EXCUSE to not be online. Here’s how we can make the most of it this year.
1. Make the most of FREE information online. Researching for information online is not only useful if you’re a student. It’s also great if you want to get ahead in your job, scout for business or freelancing opportunities to earn more cash, earn a scholarship abroad, or be a better parent, or simply make your daily life a bit better with self-help and self- or home-improvement tips.
Some websites I love in this department: ChangeThis, TED, WhyNot? Forum, Entrepreneur Philippines, EntrepBuff, Hungry People, BabyCenter Philippines, ParenTIN.tv and The Daily Om, just to name a few.
2. Be in the know. While it can be fun to be updated on celebrity chismis, it’s even better to be in the know when it comes to current issues. It makes you look smarter and increases your rankings on the social strata. PLUS, it helps make you a better and more responsible citizen.
Some blogs and websites you can check out are: Blogwatch.ph, PCIJ, Good News Pilipinas; the blogs of Jim Paredes, Manolo Quezon, and Ricky Carandang; and Philippine Blog Awards winners and finalists such as Virtual Journals , The Professional Heckler, TonyoCruz.com, and Pagod Ka Na Ba Maging Si Juan.
If you’re on Twitter (and you SHOULD be), follow these Twitterers for great updates and insights: @ancalerts, @inquirerdotnet, @gmanewstv, @mlq3, @jimparedes, @juliusbabao, @parenTIN, @momblogger, @mindanaoan, @gangbadoy, @wheninmanila, among many others. Scout around the Twitter universe and find your favorites.
3. Be a more vigilant citizen. Use your social networks and your mobile phone to help others in times of need and also to report government irregularities. Nowhere was the power of Pinoy social media more apparent than during the onslaught of typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng. Twitter and Facebook became our means of connecting to the authorities and of asking for urgent supplies and services. Google Spreadsheets became en vogue as people learned how to use a database to input and track life-saving information. Now that we have learned some very humbling lessons from this experience, plus a few horrifying ones from the Ampatuan massacre, let’s use what we’ve learned to more responsible and more responsive netizens.
After all, the Internet is the epitome of a truly democratic and empowering social space. Why not translate our online experience to help build a more democratic and empowering Philippines?
4. Know more about the 2010 candidates. Speaking of democracy: there’s the May 10, 2010 elections. With so much at stake for our family’s and country’s future, let’s not just rely on ads and our current perceptions in deciding on whose name to shade in our electronic-friendly ballots. Browse the candidates’ websites to get in-depth information about their profiles, use Google search to see if they’ve been involved in any scandals or corruption cases. Read blogs to see what other people think. Read online news to see where your candidates stand on certain issues. Know their platforms. Know about their history and character. Know about the people around them.
Canvass for a candidate in the same way you canvass for a great mobile phone—know its features and benefits, know how it can help make YOUR life easier, make sure there’s a connection between your values and the candidate’s platform, and make sure you’re electing someone who’s sulit in the long-term. (You don’t want someone who looks good now but who is actually unreliable and untrustworthy.)
Some candidate portals to check out are: Political Arena and YouthVotePhilippines.
5. Support a candidate (or candidateS). If you’re sick and tired of the old trapo ways and the old trapo names, then help elect fresh faces with fresh insights backed by solid principles and track records. And since many of these candidates have neither the money nor the machinery to launch massive ad campaigns, then they will need the help of volunteers like US to gather much-needed resources and communicate their platforms to more people. Let’s remember: TAYO ang taumbayan, TAYO ang pagbabago!
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Niña Terol-Zialcita authors the blogs Changemakers Philippines and The Art of Changemaking. She is a political communicator by day, a poet by night, and a social advocate everywhere else in between. Find out more about her on www.ninaterol.com and Twitter.
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