COMELEC to 2025 bets: Use Digital Innovation Ethically
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) enjoined candidates and campaign managers to responsibly adopt digital innovation in their campaigns. “Prioritize the truth, transparency and practice ethical campaigning,”Commissioner Rey Bulay emphasized during the National Election Game Changer Summit held in November 2024 at the Marquis Events Place in BGC, Taguig City. “Our electorate deservers no less. Let us prioritize security both online and offline. Protect personal data, guard against hacking, and secure communication channels to ensure the safety of candidates, teams and thne democratic proces,” he added. Bulay highlighted that the rise of technologies like social media and artificial intelligence poses new challenges for the commission. According to him, while these tools are powerful, they can be weaponized to spread misinformation, sway public opinion, and undermine the credibility of elections. “Napakadali pong mag-confuse ng voters sa social media. Yun lamang pong maliin kung saan ang polling place may problema na tayo. Fostering mistrust and dangerous or irreversible errors mean voter disenfranchisement. The antidote is very simple: accurate information for a well-informed electorate. But how do you do it? They should be able to discern fact from fiction,” he explained. Bulay underscored the imporance of fact-checking as a cornerstone of modern election management, urging COMELEC, media organizations, and civil society to foster a culture of verification. “We should be able to flag false content on social platforms and, more importantly, provide accessible, readily available credible sources of information,” he urged. The commissioner reminded the public that COMELEC’s role is not to predict election outcomes but to ensure every vote is cast freely and that voters have access to the truth. “As we stand on the edge of new era in Philippine elections, I ask each one of you to committ to this vision, a vision where technology is used for good. Disinformation is thwarted and the voice of the people is protected and amplified. “With COMELEC leading the way, let us please work togethjer to ensure that the 2025 elections will be remembered for the victory of the voters, of the candidates, of the truth, of transparency and democracy.”
How the Barangay, SK Elections Were Discussed Online After 5-Year Hiatus
The Philippines has finally conducted its Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections after a five-year hiatus due to various reasons. With that, Capstone-Intel Corporation looked into how Filipinos discussed the recently concluded elections, how engaging the polls were, the distribution of reactions, and influencers who significantly discussed the topic. Capstone-Intel is a high-impact research company that uses innovative research technologies, tools, and methods to convert data and information into breakthrough insights and actionable intelligence outputs. It is committed to helping its clients solve problems, find solutions, grow markets and constituencies, build reputations, navigate risks, manage crises, and be the country’s leading private research and intelligence agency. Background The country has finally held the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections this year after a five-year postponement. The last Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections were conducted on May 14, 2018. This year, the polls were held on October 30, 2023, with 67,839,776 registered voters slated to cast their votes on the said dates. Methodology Capstone-Intel conducted a one-month backtracking of posts across social and non-social media platforms in order to determine how Filipinos reacted to the recently held Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections. The agency utilized its customized social listening tools in order to gather data across all publicly available posts on social media from October 1 to October 31 in order to identify the sentiments of users about the topic. Facebook Performance In terms of the topic’s Facebook performance, Capstone-Intel revealed that there were a total of 9,910 posts on the platform, recording a significant 278,202.4 engagement score. In terms of reactions, these posts received a total of 513,274 reactions. Putting these reactions into specifics, “like” reactions received the majority of reactions with 316,270 (61.6 percent), followed by “love” with 159,223 (31 percent), “haha” reactions with 24,525 (4.8 percent), “sad” with 7,851 (1.5 percent), “wow” with 3,617 (0.7 percent), and “angry” with 1,788 reactions (0.3) Combining the “like” and “heart” reactions, these dominant reactions suggest that the return of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections was highly received by audiences, indicating the voters’ eagerness to participate in the recently held elections. Top sources, influencers In terms of top influencers for the “Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections,” Capstone-Intel data showed that the Commission on Elections was the top contributor for the topic, yielding a total of 73 posts and 89,014.8 engagement score. This was followed by The Philippine Star with a total posts of 110 and 14,874.4 engagement score. Even though the news agency reportedly amassed a higher number of posts compared to the Comelec, they varied in terms of the number of people they engaged. Online mentions On the other hand, Capstone-Intel data also revealed that during the duration of the study, there were 54 percent positive mentions while 46 percent were negative. This data indicates that even though there are many more positive mentions relating to the elections, the remaining percentage also suggests that some mentions and threads regarding the elections were potentially negative sentiments and mentions. Top posts Capstone-Intel likewise noted that most top posts were from Comelec, highlighting that the post with the highest engagement talked about the commission’s digitalization of precinct finder, which instigates a more progressive way to lessen the time of finding polling precincts among the voters. This story garnered a 61,079.3 engagement score. The next top story by the Comelec discussed tips from the commission on how to properly vote for the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections. This received a total of 5,539.3. And lastly, the third most engaging story was about the ecumenical prayer posted by the Comelec for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan aspirants. This alone yielded a 4,094.7 engagement score.
