‘CHexit’ PH waters urged: Netizens raise call on eve of UN ruling

IT IS TIME for China to do a #CHexit from the West Philippine Sea, social media users and activists in the Philippines said on Monday on the eve of a crucial UN tribunal ruling.

Inspired by the Brexit term coined for Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, the catchy new reference for China has quickly gained currency on Facebook, Twitter and protest placards ahead of the verdict of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on Beijing’s claims to most of South China Sea, including Philippine territorial waters.

“We ask our friends from other countries, especially our brothers and sisters in Southeast Asia, to call for a #CHexit,” Mong Palatino said as he protested with a small group of people outside the Chinese Consulate in Manila.

"China should stop bullying its neighbors."

On social media, some of the messages were more blunt. “China, get out of Philippine territory! #CHEXIT,” wrote @emiletabiar on Twitter.

“The West Philippine Sea is not for you to own. #CHexit,” said @rmcocoba.

Other Filipinos were not amused. “‘CHexit’?!?!? Cringing on this one,” said @titobabis.

China claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea, even waters approaching the coasts of the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations.

Challenging China claim

Manila filed a case in the arbitral tribunal in The Hague in 2013 challenging China’s claim.

China refused to participate in the hearings and vowed to ignore Tuesday's verdict.

Experts have said that the ruling is likely to be in Manila’s favor.

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesperson, Charles Jose, said the ruling would clarify the maritime entitlements of coastal states like the Philippines based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

In a statement on June 29, the court said it would not rule on questions of sovereignty over the land territory and would not delimit any maritime boundary between the parties.

China has repeatedly announced it will not abide by the arbitration court, saying the Philippines failed to exhaust negotiations to settle disputes.

Former Foreign Undersecretary Lauro Baja Jr. said “China will use every excuse to justify (its moves). They (Chinese) are worried that the tribunal panel will rule against them.”

“The decibels of China’s rhetorics are increasing. If we analyze the statements coming from China, they look like people who are losing,” Baja said.

Comply with Ruling

The Philippines has called on China to respect and comply with the decision.

The DFA said it was confident that the arbitration ruling would be favorable to the Philippines, but maintained it would “respect and comply” if ever the ruling was favorable to China.

A key factor that could change the equation of the consequences of The Hague ruling is how President Duterte decides to respond.

His predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, filed the case, straining Manila’s relations with Beijing, but Duterte has shown readiness to mend frosty ties with China.

Mr. Duterte has pointed out the benefits of nurturing friendly relations with Beijing, including a Chinese offer of financing railway projects in the Philippines. His rise has given China an opening to make inroads in one of America’s closest security allies.

Last week, Mr. Duterte said his administration stood ready to talk to China if the Philippines gets a favorable ruling.

“When it’s favorable to us, let’s talk,” he said. “We are not prepared to go to war, war is a dirty word.”

It remains to be seen, however, how far Mr. Duterte can stray from Manila’s critical stance on Beijing’s territorial assertiveness, given his country’s close ties with Washington and growing nationalist sentiment against Chinese actions.

The decision of the arbitral court would test the mettle of Mr. Duterte as the country’s chief diplomat, said Chester Cabalza, a professor at National Defense College of the Philippines.

Jay Batongbacal, an expert on South China Sea issues at the University of the Philippines, said Manila should avoid revealing its cards ahead of potential negotiations with Beijing, “otherwise you lose the leverage that you have.”

Experts say the outcome of the dispute could provide ammunition for other countries involved in disputes with China.

Six states have overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea—China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.

In addition, China’s nine-dash line overlaps waters that are part of Indonesia’s internationally recognized exclusive economic zone.

“This is a time for China not to keep pushing forward too aggressively because they could embolden Vietnam and Indonesia to file a case as well,” said Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Regardless, the ruling is unlikely to stop China from continuing to pursue more effective control over the sea space and airspace of the South China Sea, Glaser said.

US exercises

Over the last few months, the United States has held combined exercises by two Navy aircraft carrier strike groups off the coast of the Philippines and freedom of navigation cruises near China’s man-made islands to assert its presence in the Western Pacific.

Chinese state media have accused Washington of trying to turn the South China Sea “into a powder keg” and warned it not to underestimate China’s determination to defend its territorial claims.

Chinese warships, fighter jets and submarines have held live-fire war games as part of what the People’s Liberation Army Navy called routine exercises in the week running up to the tribunal’s ruling, drills that were seen at least in part responding to the US presence.

“There’s a real game of nerves going on here with China perhaps assuming that the US is bluffing and the US hoping that China will actually not test American resolve,” said Hugh White, professor of strategic studies of Australian National University. Reports from AFP, AP, Nikko Dizon and Estrella Torres

Read more: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/140878/chexit-ph-waters-urged#ixzz4ECK8v7id
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

             Photographs by CBCabalza. Copyright © 2016 by Chester B. Cabalza. All Rights Reserved.

The number one and spectacular tourist spot in Vietnam is truly amazing! #New7NatureWonders

From Noy to Rody, nation in between

By: Nikko Dizon and Chester B. Cabalza

@inquirerdotnet

Philippine Daily Inquirer

12:01 AM June 26th, 2016

As President Aquino completes his six-year term and incoming President Rodrigo Duterte begins his, this article looks into their respective brands of leadership through the lens of international relations theories, explaining how their belief systems translate to policies and pronouncements that will define their presidencies.

TWO WEEKS ago, outgoing President Aquino admitted that he toyed with the idea of imposing martial law in Sulu to allow state security forces to go after Abu Sayyaf bandits.

But in deciding against it, he said: “There’s no guarantee that there would be positive results. There might even be negative results. It might win more sympathy for the enemy.”

With these three sentences spoken in the final days of his term, Mr. Aquino demonstrated that his liberal thinking often outweighed the moments he entertained a realist approach.

Dogma of liberalism

The President’s almost predictably consensus approach to resolving internal security reflects the Kantian dogma of liberalism, emphasizing on the impact of behavior and the protection of people from excessive state regulation.

It is a paradigm that assumes the application of reason in paving a way for a more orderly, just and cooperative world, restraining disorder that can be policed by institutional reforms.

Parents’ influence

As Chief Executive and Commander in Chief, Mr. Aquino has described himself as a leader who seeks consensus, espousing a largely liberal thinking that almost certainly was the influence of his parents—democracy icons Ninoy and Cory Aquino.

In dealing with the overlapping claims in the South China Sea, the President’s state of mind urges him to champion a rules-based approach under the facets of idealism, magnifying moral value and virtue by asserting that our sovereign state and its citizens should be treated as ends rather than means.

The moral ascendancy the Philippines has gained from the arbitration case proves the centrality of a collective power.

Building alliances

Building alliances with other nations, Mr. Aquino recognized that while his administration pushed for the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, it remains one of the weakest in Asia after decades of neglect.

Mr. Aquino’s economic reforms can be construed by the principles empowered by neoliberals. The currency of economic liberalization, international trade, cross-border capital flows and regional integration somehow flirts with the language of increased investment, technology transfer, innovation and responsiveness to consumer demand that was achieved during his term.

By the time he steps down from office, the Philippines has become Asia’s rising star.

Concern for others

The social services pushed by the Aquino administration reflected liberal thinking adhered to by the outgoing President. The vision of widening equitability among the Filipino people in the hope of unleashing the fundamental human concern for others’ welfare makes progress feasible.

While naysayers of the paradigm agree that our world is anarchic and state interests are fundamental for survival, still, security reforms can be inspired by a compassionate ethical concern for the welfare of the people.

Whole-of-nation approach

As commander in chief, Mr. Aquino adopted the “whole-of-nation approach”—in which government and communities work together—to address the communist insurgency.

Notably, he defied protocol and met with rebel chief Murad Ebrahim to jumpstart the stalled peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The self-sacrificing act a leader may embody naturally coincides with the Kantian behavior of peaceful, consultative and cooperative virtues of Mr. Aquino.

He also showed belief in the justice system by hauling erring public officials to court, but ironically, he appeared to have undermined the judiciary at times.

He spearheaded the impeachment of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona, viewing the appointee of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as a possible obstacle to his campaign to make the Arroyo administration accountable for its alleged corruption.

Mr. Aquino also openly criticized Supreme Court decisions that he felt impaired his own governance.

However, his appointment of Ma. Lourdes Sereno as Corona’s successor was trailblazing for all intents and purposes for she will sit as Chief Justice for two decades.

Wendtian tendencies

Nonetheless, this can also be overshadowed by Mr. Aquino’s Wendtian tendencies to construct his own choices by relying too much on plausible stories without actual tests on anecdotal evidence.

For example, when the people, whom he famously called his “bosses,” wanted him to sack government officials for their ineptitude, he defended his men, pushing many of his supporters in 2010 to abandon him by midterm.

And even until the last months of his presidency, Mr. Aquino heaped blame on his predecessor for the country’s woes, which has become a turnoff for many.

At noon of June 30, Mr. Aquino hands over the country’s reins to incoming President Rodrigo Duterte. With it comes a change in styles of governance and belief systems.

Similarities

Indeed, the two Presidents share similarities: their devotion to their mothers, closeness and loyalty to friends, aversion to unsolicited advice and the ability to command an army of staunch believers.

They both walk the talk, albeit taking different approaches.

As the country embarks on a new journey in our transformative process as a young nation-state previously ruled by a dictator, a housewife, a general, an actor and two subsequent economist Presidents in contemporary period, the Philippines has yet to morph into an economic and military power in the region.

Now that a new driver takes the front seat of the presidency in the country’s roller coaster ride through democracy, is the country ready for another shift from a liberal to a realist?

The just concluded national elections have brought us to the smoothest transition we have seen in recent history.

Return of oligarchy

The narratives in Philippine contemporary period saw the effects of ironclad dictatorship and cronyism but also the return of oligarchy in a softhearted leadership.

People power uprising paved the way for unseating corrupt leaders but also installed successors who fell short of expectations.

The selective forgiving culture inherent in Filipinos has resulted in a people power fatigue.

Our contemporary Presidents’ rule mirrored the kind of leadership and reactive political culture we mustered during their respective terms.

Machiavellian realist rule

But six administrations of ups and downs—from martial law to the restoration of an immature democracy in the Philippines—gave us a picture of a Machiavellian realist rule and Kantian altruistic ideals.

After more than three decades of seeking the right kind of leader—mixing realist-, liberal- and constructivist-thinking Presidents from Marcos to the second Aquino—coming up with the best formula to make our country more secure and progressive remains elusive.

Now comes Mr. Duterte.

Campaigning for the presidency, the 71-year-old grandfather said he wanted to use Army Rangers to help the police force crackdown on drug syndicates, and then upon his election, announced he wanted armed civilian auxiliaries to take on the drug menace at the barangay level.

His draconian measures are hugely popular in Davao City, where he ruled as mayor for decades. People justified their allegiance to him and his ways by claiming they felt safe and such security made their businesses and livelihood thrive.

He has pledged to replicate his ruthless methods to eradicate criminality nationwide while his aides have backtracked on his campaign promise to do so in three to six months.

Death to criminals

A week before his inauguration, Mr. Duterte said that death to criminals was not deterrence to crime. It was retribution.

The thought of brutality in exchange for security has become a cause for great concern for human rights advocates.

Exuding power

This Hobbesian tradition of exuding power can best exemplify the type of governance that the incoming administration may possess.

The struggle to pursue consolidated national interests amid the country’s internal and external insecurities could result in realist-leaning statecraft for the administration to survive in a hostile environment.

The realist paradigm assumes that states are rational actors playing in their national interest.

Given the humongous responsibility bestowed upon Mr. Duterte, as he incessantly advocated restoring peace and order, presumed to lead to progress and development, his game plan would strongly resonate with his philosophical and ethical consideration.

The action is neither good nor bad as long as it will pave the way for the pursuit of his national self-interest.

Among other things, Mr. Duterte has promised to push for federalism, the restoration of the death penalty, peace with communist rebels and the passage of the freedom of information bill. Ironically, he declared he would use only state-run media, thus undermining the country’s free press.

Alliance with Marcos Jr.

Most alarming to those who fought for democracy three decades ago is Mr. Duterte’s alliance with losing vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., promising the latter a Cabinet position by next year and the burial of his father, the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

The incoming Cabinet is a hodgepodge of personalities from the Right and the Left to industry leaders and relative unknowns.

So far, only Mr. Duterte’s economic team brings some confidence to the rest of the nation that has now become an outsider in the former city mayor’s clique.

His security cluster is not exactly a formidable team for the heightened tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.

He himself has shown disdain for regional and international cooperation, judging by the remarks he made in his infamous postelection press conferences.

Beyond his being antiestablishment, Mr. Duterte was not to be disturbed from his slumber during the early morning Independence Day rites on June 12, raising the question whether traditions that make a nation might even be disregarded in the next six years.

Waltzian neorealism

The parsimonious and enduring persona the incoming President tries to paint before the people, whether consciously or unconsciously, is an astute personification of Waltzian neorealism.

This favors a systemic approach that asserts pragmatic, realistic and actual execution of relative power in a similar rational manner with outcomes falling within the expected range to ensure the leader’s own survival and that of the state he will be ruling.

Different styles

The transition from Mr. Aquino’s liberal rule to Mr. Duterte’s autocratic tendencies is one that will be keenly watched, not only by their constituencies but also by the international community, given the two leaders’ distinctly different politics and styles of governance within a democratic system of government.

Both campaigned on a platform of change—the single, most powerful word in any Philippine election.

But whether it is a collective change or personal change, personal interest or national interest, is something only the Filipino electorate can answer and define.

(Nikko Dizon is a defense and political reporter of the Inquirer. She holds a master’s degree in National Security Administration from the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP). Chester Cabalza teaches national security administration at the NDCP and political anthropology at the University of the Philippines Diliman.)

Read more: http://opinion.inquirer.net/95360/from-noy-to-rody-nation-in-between#ixzz4CgDNWfyF
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

Luang Prabang, Laos

              Photographs by CBCabalza. Copyright © 2016 by Chester B. Cabalza. All Rights Reserved.

There is magic in this amazing town of Luang Prabang or Louangphrabang, the old capital of Laos, home of the million elephants before the war ended. It is enclosed by the Mekong River, the Nam Khan River, and encircled by lush mountain ranges. The UNESCO town is a world heritage site itself, plunked with outstanding architecture of temples, lovely elephants, and the humblest Southeast Asian people I have ever met in this charming region. I will forever remember my elephant ride in this beautiful place! #AsianSafari #ShimmeringTemples #Sunset #Elephants #Mekong River #Laos

Clearer Duterte policy on sea dispute awaited — experts

By: Nikko Dizon

@inquirerdotnet

Philippine Daily Inquirer

09:59 AM June 6th, 2016

The Philippines has been on the frontline in asserting the rule of law and the passage of an Asean-China Code of Conduct in the South China Sea under outgoing President Aquino. Now, other Spratlys claimants and interested parties like the United States and Japan are waiting for more “clarity” from President-elect Rodrigo Duterte about his position on the maritime row.

“On the campaign trail, he made statements that seemed to run counter to the established policy of the Aquino administration and made outside observers nervous,” Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), told the INQUIRER over the weekend.

On the other hand, Duterte “also made statements that were strongly nationalistic and pragmatic about the role of the US alliance, EDCA (Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement), etc.,” Poling noted.

Amid the seemingly conflicting statements, Poling said, “Other claimants and interested parties like the US and Japan are waiting for more clarity” on Duterte’s policies.

Poling, who is set to hold a forum on EDCA in Manila on Tuesday, said he saw nothing wrong with Duterte having a bilateral engagement with China to resolve the maritime row.

“As long as he doesn’t seek to cut a deal that would leave other claimants out in the cold—and he hasn’t made any statements suggesting he would,” Poling said.

But Poling said Aquino tried to engage China bilaterally earlier in his administration “and learned a hard lesson— that Beijing was not willing to negotiate fairly.”

“Mr. Duterte might come to the same conclusion after attempting negotiations,” Poling said.

The AMTI director added that it was obvious that Duterte “is clearly more skeptical of the US to really go to the mat for the Philippines, and that affects his decision-making.”

“But the US response should be to seek to reassure him that our treaty commitment is reliable, which was why President Obama was the first head of state to call and congratulate him on his win,” Poling said.

For his part, Chester Cabalza of the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP) warned in a separate interview that a sudden shift by Duterte in policies could “taint the credibility of the Philippines before its neighbors.”

“We have been in the frontline and we tried to influence our neighbors to join us in the strategy on how to deal with the maritime row, and then we would suddenly shift policies? That would impact on the credibility of the Philippines. We gained moral ascendancy after we sued a giant neighbor then we’ll do a drastic change?” Cabalza said.

Cabalza said the incoming administration should engage in thorough consultation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the claimant countries, and even the outgoing Aquino administration.

“We need to listen to our neighbors. We are pursuing Asean centrality and our neighbors are relying on us. We have to assess the security environment and weigh the best option,” Cabalza said.

Even as he received an official from the Chinese embassy on Thursday, Duterte said that he did not talk to China about the maritime dispute between the Philippines and China.

He said he was waiting for the decision of the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague on the Philippines petition against China before he “confirms” his policy on the maritime row.

The court is expected to hand down its decision this month./rga

Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/789293/clearer-duterte-policy-on-sea-dispute-awaited-experts#ixzz4AnXfoBZX
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

Palace brushes aside Joma’s call for plunder raps vs Aquino

By: Nikko Dizon

@inquirerdotnet

Philippine Daily Inquirer

01:42 AM May 13th, 201

Malacañang on Thursday brushed aside a call by self-exiled communist leader Jose Maria Sison on the incoming Duterte administration to file plunder charges against President Aquino and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad in connection with the alleged misuse of congressional pork barrel funds.

Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. was asked at the regular Palace news briefing about a statement by Sison, 77, the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) who has been on a self-imposed exile in The Netherlands, that the President and Secretary Abad were “responsible for looting and unprecedented corruption.”

“Questions such as those are about prospective actions of the incoming administration and the incoming President… [because] for example, that arrest cannot be done between now and June 30,” 

Coloma said, referring to the end of Mr. Aquino’s term and the installation of presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte.

Coloma told the media to be more circumspect in asking about “prospective scenarios” as it might not be helpful in the calls to have “unity and healing in the nation.”

In a post on his Facebook page, Sison expressed hopes that Duterte would visit him before his inauguration to lay the groundwork for the resumption of peace talks between the government and the CPP.

A security analyst told the Inquirer that how Duterte would be able to reconcile the ideological differences of the extreme left and extreme right to achieve lasting internal peace and security would be one of the biggest challenges to the presumptive President.

“That would test his promise of unity and healing. That’s the challenge to him and it’s good because here we have a complex problem that will test his skill as a leader… It is the best time for him to set the tone of Mr. Duterte’s leadership,” said Chester Cabalza, a professor at the National Defense College of the Philippines.

Duterte’s supporters are made up of strange bedfellows, particularly retired military officials from the Ramos and Arroyo administrations and former CPP members and sympathizers.

“The key words for everyone are trust and respect,” Cabalza said.

“The resumption of the peace talks with the CPP is long overdue. We’ve had the longest protracted warfare with the left… Duterte came at the right time because we are confronted by external threats and we need to solve our internal security issues,” Cabalza said.

Cabalza said that with his self-proclaimed ties with the left, Duterte might just be the right leader to talk to them.

“Any peace process takes time. This time around, we are starting from scratch because of the long pause we’ve had in the negotiations. And here comes a new leader who is sympathetic to them,” Cabalza said.

Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/785419/palace-brushes-aside-jomas-call-for-plunder-raps-vs-aquino#ixzz48U5qCmKc
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

How social media is shaping the 2016 elections

By Demie Dangla, ABS-CBN News
posted at 22 Apr 2016 01:25 PM / updated as of 23 Apr 2016 08:23 AM 

From traditional ways of campaigning, politicians have seen the need to keep up this election season and strategically place themselves in the social media sphere, where millions of Filipinos are actively sharing information and making conversations.

The ability to reach such a huge population - and potential voting audience - become attractive for politicians who have also learned how to exploit social media for their own goals. 

But a political anthropologist and senior lecturer at the University of the Philippines-Diliman said that social media, while very helpful during the campaign season, can also break a candidate. 

Unlike before, politicians now have to deal with hashtags, trends, and even trolls. 

"It (social media) can make or break the chances of politicians because people react," said Professor Chester Cabalza, explaining how social media can influence the chances of a candidate in winning the upcoming 2016 elections.

It has only been in recent years that more and more Filipinos have engaged themselves in social media, making it integral in everyday life. 

During the 2010 elections, there were only around 23 million Filipinos using the Internet, according to statistics provided by www.InternetLiveStats.com. 

Today, there are 49 million active monthly users of Facebook in the Philippines, according to the social media site, which is close to half of the population of the country. 

Before, it was just hashtags, status updates, photos and videos. But now, we have more sophisticated social media tools such as Facebook Live and 360 videos and more. 

With these, imagination is the only limitation for politicians campaigning in social media. 

Top social media users as of April 19, the two women running for the presidency have the most number of Facebook likes: Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Senator Grace Poe, with 3,446,922 and 2,848,930 respectively.

Vice President Jejomar Binay comes third with 2,630,878, followed by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte with 2,417,988.

Mar Roxas, who is he standard-bearer of Liberal Party, named the most dominant political party by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), comes last with 1,389,515.

Incidentally, he was among the first to realize the value of social media as early as 2010 when he ran for the vice presidency.

Meanwhile the vice presidential candidates, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano's Page has the most number of Facebook likes, with 1,703,746.

Senator Bongbong Marcos comes second with 1,192,823.

However, the number of page followers does not guarantee a candidate the attention he wants.

Recently, Facebook Philippines named Duterte as the "Undisputed King of Facebook Conversations" after he garnered 64% of conversations talking about him, while Santiago came last even though she had the most page followers.

The conversation or comment may be positive or negative regarding the candidate.

(READ: Duterte is 'king' of Facebook talk)

For vice presidential candidates, Cayetano was most discussed with 44% of the counted conversations, while Marcos came next with 35%.

These data were collected by Facebook Philippines from the 15.2 million Filipinos who engaged in election-related conversations on Facebook from November 20, 2015 to April 5, 2016, generating a total of 124 million interactions.

These conversations were generated from "any post or comment that contains highly specific and targeted keywords or hashtags related to either the election itself, a candidate, a party.”

Aside from Facebook, politicians have also begun using other digital platforms, such as YouTube and Twitter, to further widen the scope of their campaigns.

For Twitter, Santiago is way past the other presidential candidates as she has 2.49 million followers on the platform. She is followed by Roxas with 606,000. Duterte has the least number of Twitter followers with 42,100 only.

For vice presidential candidates, Marcos has the most number of Twitter followers with 374,000, followed by Escudero with 269,000 followers.

Social media as election ‘game-changer’

Cabalza said that this year’s elections would be different from its predecessors because of the deep integration of social media in campaigns. Cabalza said this makes social media a “game-changer.”

“The twist is you have social media that is very active. So whatever they (politicians) feed, social media reacts immediately and there's a thread of conversation, and it's very dynamic,” Cabalza said.

“Everybody would want to optimize social media use, everybody has the power to voice out their ideas and it has become a new battlefield… Generally, social media will change our political landscape, and it could help us choose whoever will win in the top post of our politics,” he added.

Facebook Philippines observed that social media’s role “has become more critical than ever” when compared to the 2013 elections where “only about 30% of Filipinos had access to the Internet.”

They said, “the proportion has grown dramatically since then.”

From 25% of the population using the Internet in 2010, and 37% in 2013, it rose to an estimate of 42.3% in 2015, according to www.InternetLiveStats.com.

Comelec data show that “millennials” (aged 18-34 in 2015) is the single age group with the most number of registered voters at around 24.7 million.

Incidentally, these millennials are also the ones most active in election-related conversations, according to Facebook.

This may indicate how campaigning in social media can be a significant factor in influencing millions of voting population online.

Despite this, Cabalza still recognizes that not all Filipinos are engaged in social media, or have access to it.

“You will see asymmetry of power because it’s a way of looking at those who have this access to social media and those who have not. So, those who have no accessibility, access to social media, sometimes they're excluded from that arena of participation,” Cabalza said.

Social media ‘tactics’

Because social media has its own demographics, politicians had to learn, adapt, and hire social media managers to manage their accounts and engage the audience. Competition has also become tighter among candidates, resulting in various gimmicks online.

An example may be the video posted by Senator Marcos who dressed up as a Jedi when "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" was shown in the Philippines.

This campaign video of Marcos is only available online, but was not shown on television.

These posts, shared multiple times, generate conversations, and increase a candidate's popularity, regardless of the reactions being negative or positive.

Because of its accessibility and the ability to immortalize content such as photos and videos, social media has also helped local candidates to widen their reach outside their municipalities.

An example would be the case of ousted Laguna Governor E.R. Ejercito's video of him dancing "Nae Nae." The video became viral and was shared 2,344x and viewed 223,000x.

The live video feature is also being exploited by candidates, making it possible for netizens to watch a sortie real-time, wherever they are, as long as they have Internet connection.

Liberal Party presidential candidate Mar Roxas and vice presidential candidate Alan Peter Cayetano use Facebook Live to broadcast real-time videos of their sorties.

Furthermore, social media, because it is free, has become strategic for candidates to influence public opinion, attack rivals, and answer queries from netizens with the use of hashtags.

(Left) United Nationalist Alliance standard-bearer Jejomar Binay takes to social media his call against his rival, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. (Right) Vice presidential candidate Gringo Honasan uses the hashtag #askGringo so netizens can ask him anything. He then uploaded his answers to YouTube.

But social media does not always have a good effect on candidates; since it is free, it can also backfire.

This is evident in the video of Duterte and his remarks about a rape-slay victim, which was uploaded online and became viral.

(READ: It's final: Duterte takes back rape remark)

Empowered or immature netizens?

Still, Cabalza said social media is successful in engaging and emboldening netizens into commenting on political issues.

He said that the sentiments of a few can be amplified multiple times, which can lead to setting public opinion and effecting governmental changes.

"They (netizens) have the right to choose, to select, and sometimes they can demand for the advocacies and platforms, so they (politicians) are challenged now," he said.

According to Facebook, "transparency’"is the most talked about topic among netizens from November 20, 2015 to April 15, 2016, getting 66% of conversations made about elections. Economy and education both came second with 30%, while social welfare got 25%.

However, he said that it goes two ways: just as much as there are “clever, intelligent netizens” who would question and attempt to verify social media posts, there are also as many who would easily believe and even share unsubstantiated material on social media.

“If you are more critical, then you would have to verify it. So, it goes two ways. It's like consumers in a brand. There are some smart consumers, there are those who are just passive,” Cabalza said.

He said that the most affected by perceptions easily generated on social media are the "volatile, undecided voters."

"Sometimes they are the ones that are being shaped by social media because they base their decision from perceptions, and social media is a way of feeding that information to netizens. So, I think it's very crucial, it has its own unique call because basically, social media is there, although it's not really sophisticated when it comes to its content."

Cabalza is referring to “immature” use of social media by spreading false information, unsubstantiated posts, and doing personal attacks against a person.

That is why Cabalza believes that although there is political engagement in social media Filipinos are still “immature” when it comes to using social media as we are still “evolving.”

He said that Filipinos are still more into “showbiz politics,” although he hopes that there will come a time when netizens would mature when engaging in political discourse in social media.

But when asked if social media, given the nature of the netizens, can make a candidate win, Cabalza replied:

"I believe it's an alternative, but we cannot underestimate its power because social media is a game-changer.... They (politicians) are cementing their strong presence to voters' preference and choices... (But) it's participatory, informal, personalistic, and that's Filipino culture," he said, referring to the capacity of netizens to "criticize politicians for their reactions, political standpoints, statements, and it can set public opinion" when shared multiple times, may it be memes or personal posts.

"It's a big indicator basically on how politicians can make to the elections.... It can make or break them basically,” he said.