racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

2007 is mid-term election season here in the Philippines. Every three years, we get to elect local officials from lowest (barangay, or town) level up to national Senate level (senators have alternating six-year terms). And this is one of those years.

I wasn’t able to register as a voter–I have never done so in my entire life. Those who know me would probably recall that I prefer to be apolitical. I prefer to effect change through other means, and this is mostly because I’ve lost hope in the local political system. I’ve been part of government before, and I can say I had grown further disillusioned and disappointed with how things are run here.

But then again somehow I feel it’s time to make a change, especially with regard to helping our country’s political system grow. I’ve been observing politics in other countries–particularly in the West–and one thing I notice is that their political systems are mostly platform-based. They have strong party systems. In contrast, here in the Philippines politics is mostly personality-based. And we have a weak party system.

If in the US, Democrats stand for one thing and Republicans for another, here in the Philippines, most parties seem to give empty promises of poverty alleviation, job security and economic improvement, but there really is no solid, observable and viable platform. Or at least once people get elected, no one is sure if they ever follow through on their promises/platforms.

Sometimes I’m not sure whom to blame: the politicians or the electorate ourselves. After all, it’s the citizenry that elects people into positions of power.

So here’s my crazy idea

Political blogging is very popular in the west. In fact, a lot of blogs and bloggeres have grown to A-list status in election seasons by outing irregularities or helping out candidates.

As a blogger, I would like to do the same. But given that I do not identify myself with any party or candidate, I would like to invite candidates for this year’s elections (local or national) to collaborate with me on this endeavor.

The concept is simple. I (probably along with a handful of other bloggers) will be writing about candidates, their lives, their political parties, and their platforms during this campaign season. I still have to decide whether it will be on my personal blogs (which have better coverage and readership), or a new site altogether. Now this wouldn’t be the standard press-release like postings. We’ll do it as bloggers do–with honesty, candidness and straightforwardness (with a dash of our own insights, of course). This makes for good _new media_ coverage, no?

But it doesn’t end there. If and once that candidate wins the election, I will continue blogging about his/her activities as an incumbent, and through this we will see if that candidate has indeed followed through on election platforms/promises.

So for instance, he’s a Senatorial candidate who has campaigned on the platform of job creation, the people will know if the committees he’s become part of, the bills he’s authored, and other decisions and activities, are part of improving the employment situation in the country. Or if a candidate for City Mayor runs on the platform of cleaning up the city government of corruption, we will see if his activities once elected would, indeed, reflect that platform.

I’m aware that several local organizations are already focusing on blogging about politics, such as PCIJ, but they’re approaching it from journalists’ perspectives (particularly investigative journalism), and of course there is a difference. I would rather approach it as a citizen. Okay, let me be the devil’s advocate here. Let’s assume that all people are good and that political candidates have their prospective constituents’ best interests in mind.

I’m all ears!

If you’re running for office, let me blog about you, and _with_ you. You can get in touch with me directly here. And I’m hoping communication lines keep open, so I can continue to help with the transparency. After all, elected officials should be accountable to their constituents.

Is anyone willing to be part of this?

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