Noynoy hi-tech campaign matched automated polls

Puerto Princesa tourists and locals were sorry to see their favorite bar-‘n-grill Kinabuch closed since Tuesday. Owner Butch Chase couldn’t take anymore the daily multiple outages that disrupt his bistro business and apparatus. The Tagalog-speaking Caucasian’s shutdown was a protest, for the Palawan Electric Cooperative to shape up once and for all. And did the message ring loud all over the province. Chase was visited by business, civic and government leaders; interviewed on tri-media news; and text-messaged from faraway Narra, Quezon, Aborlan, Taytay and San Vicente towns north and south of the capital. Everyone cheered him on for standing up for them, and jeered Paleco for messing up their lives for the past two decades.

The Paleco head reportedly ran as nominee of a party-list of electric cooperatives. Having lost, he would do well to focus on upgrading Paleco’s service and facilities. Palawan officials are raring to audit Paleco to find out how it uses its revenues.

And hey, Butch, I’d like to dine some tonight, so c’mon and open up.

*      *      *

Now it can be told. Noynoy Aquino had a hi-tech campaign system that helped him overtake presidential contenders who had years of head start. Basically the information-technology setup fused together his many disparate supporters: politicians, civil society, relatives, and volunteers. Through it they were fed approved campaign lines, kept abreast of field events, and trained in vote getting. The system contained a rich database to back up the campaign’s logistics, communications, and alliance forging. It provided useful information ranging from voting patterns, to backgrounds of political friends and foes, to the nearest ATMs in provincial stumps.

The specialized election management system was called Noy-Mar Stratbase Electron. Designed by political scientist Prof. Victor Andres Manhit, it was secretly housed in a building in Makati, with two backups elsewhere in Metro Manila. Stratbase Electron was hidden to avert sabotage by hackers. But the use was quite public. Volume-purchasing usage time from the Netopia chain of Internet cafés, Manhit’s unit enabled the on-line training of 102,987 field volunteers. Stratbase Electron also sent out more than 1.2 million text-messages to them.

“It’s the first and only system of its kind,” says Manhit’s associate Orlando Oxales. It matched the first automated balloting and modern-day campaign needs. Manhit provided the political database that he began to compile in 1992, the first presidential-congressional-local election under the 1987 Constitution. He included maps of regions, provinces and towns; transport modes, depots and routes; food and fuel outlets; campaign material suppliers; you name it, he had them on file. Information-technologists Oxales and Sam Jacoba built the management, information and communication system for the 344 central users. These included Noynoy, running mate Mar Roxas, the 12 senatorial candidates, campaign managers Butch Abad, Serge Osmeña, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, and Lito Banayo, volunteer-training chief Karina Constantino David, and top officers of the Liberal Party and other campaign groups.

Manhit in 2004 had set up something similar but much smaller for presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. Noynoy’s cousin Tony Boy Cojuangco tapped the political strategist to build the network soon after Noynoy announced his presidential bid in Sept. 2009. Former ambassador Albert del Rosario joined as chairman, and with Cojuangco raised funds for equipment and operations. Stratbase Electron was just what was needed for a candidate to translate name recall, public discontent, and huge volunteer base (228,006 in all) into a mean vote-getting machine.

Stratbase Electron had three components: campaign, database and communications management. Campaign management included strategy development and dissemination, volunteer supervision, events and sortie planning, monitoring of strengths and weaknesses, and logistics mapping. Database management consisted of logistics, staff, volunteer and media directories. Communications management dealt with internal and external text messaging, e-mails, webcasts, surveys, and the use of new media.

After making full use of Stratbase Electron, Noynoy’s campaign managers see its potential for good governance. There are suggestions to modify it for use by the Presidential Management Staff in Malacañang. That system would monitor the performance of presidential appointees, the activities of local officials, and status of projects and administration bills. It would enable Noynoy and his Malacañang officials to send and receive information to and from the field. It would even keep track real-time of government revenue collection and spending. Bureaucrats would be kept on their toes, knowing that Big Brother Noynoy is watching.

*      *      *

Retrouvaille has aided couples in disillusionment or misery. It can help you too. Pronounced re-tro-ví, French for “rediscovery”, the program makes troubled couples overcome stumbling blocks in failing relationship. It addresses breakdown of communication and erosion of love, acceptance and trust. Programs begin on weekends in June-November. For information on one that starts June 11, call Inday and Nes (02) 9389719 or (0916) 4438346, or Fr. Dave Clay (0918) 9020511. Or visit www.retrouvaille.org.

*      *      *

“Life begins not at 40 or 20 or 60. It begins the moment you find meaning in it.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

*      *      *

E-mail: [email protected]