3 hours ago
4
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
'At the tail end of the campaign period, I look back at the series with pride and excitement. From January to April, we took the 'kapihan' series to four localities: Manila, Marikina, Cavite, and Bulacan.'
Hello!
It’s 12 days before election day.
Last Monday, April 28, we did the last of our kapihan series with local candidates: the Make Bulacan Liveable interview with reelectionist Governor Daniel Fernando and his running mate, reelectionist Vice Governor Alex Castro.
At the tail end of the campaign period, I look back at the series with pride and excitement. From January to April, we took the series to four localities: Manila, Marikina, Cavite, and Bulacan.
This all began with an idea during Rappler Community’s end-of-2024 strategy planning. We wanted to have a series of voter empowerment events that would bridge candidates with citizens, this time at the local level.
Senatorial debates have been done many times before, by national news outlets. But we thought it would be compelling to spotlight local elections in key areas: races for governor, vice governor, mayor, vice mayor, and district representative.
We wanted an event series that would remind people about what’s at stake in their local elections. We wanted to facilitate direct interactions between citizens and local candidates so that candidates, too, would feel the weight of their candidacy and the promises they make.
We didn’t have a big budget. We knew we could only hold a limited number of events under this series. And so we picked localities that had interesting races, where we had partners we could tap, that were close enough that we would not spend too much on logistics, and that were critical to cover.
Manila was a natural opening salvo, though the front-runners Isko Moreno and Honey Lacuna declined our invitation. Our Make Manila Liveable kapihan became a forum to hear from new names running for mayor and vice mayor: Michael Say, Morgan Say, Raymond Bagatsing, Chikee Ocampo, and Joel Chua. (What’s the plan of Manila mayoral bets for senior citizens?)
Marikina’s mayoral race is heated, and the voters and civil society groups there are highly active and engaged. There were fruitful exchanges with the candidates who participated: Stella Quimbo, Del de Guzman, Miro Quimbo, and Koko Pimentel.
Cavite and Bulacan are the two most vote-rich provinces, though the candidates in the hottest races declined our invitations too. Instead, the gubernatorial candidates with high chances of winning showed up: Abeng Remulla from Cavite and Daniel Fernando from Bulacan. Ram Revilla, Remulla’s running mate, backed out at the last minute. Fernando’s running mate, reelectionist Vice Governor Alex Castro, arrived late, but with fireworks — his strong criticism of Villar-owned PrimeWater causing suffering in his province. ([Vantage Point]: Taps go dry wit expensive, inefficient PrimeWater service)
We were planning a Make Laguna Liveable elections kapihan too. But the candidates we invited — Sol Aragones, Dan Fernandez, Ruth Hernandez — declined or did not reply. Only one, Laguna Vice Governor Katherine Agapay, said she would attend.
In this series, we experimented, iterated, adjusted, constantly. We arrived at a formula: approach local partners; together, crowdsource questions and issues from residents and voters; hold a live event and ensure those questions and issues are tackled by the candidates.
The key to this was our Rappler Communities app, which we used to hold community chat events with voters to crowdsource their questions and concerns. We also used it to facilitate the live Q&A during the events. This is why you can backread every Q&A portion of the series on the liveable-cities chat room, our main space for this series in our app.
Around 300 people attended the three in-person events, which were viewed, via livestream, by thousands of other viewers. Our Make Bulacan Liveable interview was not a forum, but a sit-down interview with candidates, livestreamed for tens of thousands of viewers. A short clip from the interview, about the PrimeWater issue, was viewed 1.7 million times on Facebook.
As the person in charge of inviting candidates, I suffered through frayed nerves for weeks, unsure if the confirmed candidates would actually show up. I could never truly relax until they had all arrived at the venue. Then I had to get ready to host and moderate the forum.
But what made all of that worth it was seeing forum attendees forming a long line in front of the microphone to ask their questions to candidates. I relished watching students, teachers, vendors, and senior citizens directly address the politicians and say what was on their mind.
It was golden, watching the candidates absorb the question and almost see the cogs inside their heads working to formulate an answer on the spot.
It was a moment of great pride to see candidates uncomfortable in their seats, and citizens with the upper hand. Because that is what a democracy is supposed to be: political leaders working for their constituents. Politicians at the mercy of voters. Officials accountable to the citizens.
Some interesting takeaways from the series:
- Traffic, transportation, flooding, and healthcare were the four consistently mentioned concerns in all four events. Read our stories on our election site.
- Villars beware: PrimeWater is the number one source of suffering for Caviteños and Bulakenyos.
- Voters are wary of “epal.” Annoyance at the plastering of candidate’s faces on public structures and aid was voiced in Marikina and Bulacan.
- Even if candidates can directly reach voters with their social media pages and vlogs, there are still citizens who find value in fora like our series. They take time to sign up and show up. They watch livestreams. They share video excerpts from the event. They send great questions and astute observations. They are fearless in their criticism, especially when it comes to gut issues.
As our managing editor Gigi Go says in this must-read thought piece, all elections are local. That’s what makes voters powerful.
Our citizen empowerment series gives me hope that voters will use this power. Cutting through the noise of election jingles, disinformation, and propaganda, we hold on to the interactions that matter: conversations about how we are governed, what we want from our leaders, and the promises kept and broken.
What’s cooking
Of course, we haven’t forgotten about the high-stakes senatorial race. Join an exclusive briefing about how voters are choosing their senatorial candidates, with our guest experts Mahar Mangahas of Social Weather Stations and Robin Garcia of WR Numero at 4 pm today, via Zoom. To get access to this virtual event, become a Rappler+ member. Membership will give you access to even more events like this one. If you’re interested, email plus@rappler.com.
What’s Behind The Good?
New series alert! We’re spotlighting inspiring individuals and how they got started on their advocacies. For the first feature in the “Behind The Good” series, we talk to Alopecia Philippines founder Abby Asistio.
– Rappler.com
Be the Good is a newsletter that comes out every other Wednesday. We deliver updates straight to your inbox on how journalism and communities can work together for impact.
To subscribe, follow the #FactsFirstPH movement or visit rappler.com/newsletters.
