Don’t even try to bottle it!

“Social media is too important to ignore in decision-making of government,” Gilbert Teodoro said. The presidential candidate defeated by a PCOS election was speaking at TEDxDiliman. The talk was organized by the Center for Art, New Ventures and Sustainable Development (CANVAS) with InterAksyon. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. Talks are organized by the Sapling Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in the United States. It is a group “devoted to ideas worth spreading.”

It is good to hear Teodoro’s voice again and especially because he was speaking in an intelligent, non-political forum. He said if there is anything he learned from the May 10 PCOS elections, it is “don’t do it again”. Yes. Maybe.

But what he said about social media can be the slogan for the coming storm on the cyber-crime law in the Philippines and that is very political.

Social media is about empowering the individual. It is no longer true that an individual’s opinion cannot matter in big affairs of state or even of the world. It can matter and it is done through networking. Networking is an expertise that must frighten authority because it is the equivalent of massing crowds in protest. And more.

As explained by Sen. Edgardo Angara, the penalties for cyber crime law are more severe because of its global reach.

“With one click, you can send it all over the world,” he said. In other words, he is blaming technology. If a crime is proved and then written about with whatever technology to communicate it remains the same crime punishable by the Revised Penal Code.

The lawmakers don’t get it. To them the argument is against Internet. “Why was the penalty raised? The only rationale I can think of is that because of the novelty and swiftness, and the spread and reach of information and communication technology, it becomes an aggravating circumstance,” Angara said at a Senate news forum. Blame Zuckerberg.

The netizens are able to get a following far wider than they ever dreamed of they could without computer technology. The Internet is putting newspapers and television stations owned by the mega rich out of business. Netizens realize this empowerment and will fight for it. My advice to legislators: don’t even try to bottle it. The netizen without a newspaper or a television station will compete. It will do so with a computer and it has changed the world.

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Five-day protests are promised by Filipino netizens against the anti-cybercrime law until Jan. 15, when the case is heard again in the Supreme Court.

A TRO was imposed a few months ago when protests were mounted online and offline into the streets. But with the impending hearing “the fight will resume, both online and offline when thousands rejecting the unconstitutional anti-cybercrime law would troop to the streets,” said the petitioners.

“It is no longer enough to fight online. The battle will spill to the streets. We will show the Supreme Court, and the government the people’s wrath against the Aquino regime’s e-Martial Law that is RA 10175,” said Kabataan president and legal counsel Terry Ridon. The fight for internet freedom is far from over,” Ridon said.

The petitioners said they would push to declare RA 10175 as unconstitutional, because it would grant the Department of Justice “superpowers” over cyberspace, online libel, and other vague provisions.

The alliance said they plan to mobilize support from schools and communities in the days leading to Jan. 15.

Tomorrow, the group will hold a vigil in front of the Supreme Court, led by campus journalists under the College Editors Guild of the Philippines. The alliance said the anti-Cybercrime Law protest would reach its peak on Jan. 15, when thousands of protesters gather in Padre Faura in Manila to express opposition to RA 10175. I attended their past protests and I can say that these have the potential to excite both young and old, rich or poor as long as you are hooked to the Internet.

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Over the holidays, a son visiting from abroad brought his family on a day-out. It was New Year’s Day and rather than stay alone at home, I decided to come along. I am so used to my comfort zone, home to grocery, car to errands etc. I seldom mix with crowds. We had lunch at the newly refurbished Aristocrat in Roxas Boulevard and then spent the afternoon in the Oceanarium. It was a feast and an eye opener for me.

Aristocrat was packed full as it was when I was a young girl. I looked around and noticed big families, some speaking with American accents of balikbayans from the US, and others Filipino Chinese from Binondo. The atmosphere was truly pro-people because in this restaurant, you go for the good food and the price.

But like the balikbayans, I realized why I would be thrilled with eating at the refurbished Aristocrat. It brought me back to memory lane. I remember the times when my parents would bring us here for celebrations and the food we ordered was always the same: chicken barbecue with peanut sauce, Java rice and atsara (local papaya sweet and sour relish). For dessert it would be a halo-halo de luxe. No soft lights or expensive tablecloths or upholstery, just cheap delicious food which my son says taste like home cooked food. I never thought then there would come a time when I would be eating here with him or my grandchildren.

The queue for tickets to the Manila Ocean Park must have been a mile long. And the crowds were of people of every size and hue. Again the crowds were large families. I thought we would never be able to go in but we finally did. We mingled through the crowds carrying two toddlers who loved the glass-paneled aquariums with fish species I have never even heard of before. They contained 5,000 varieties of marine creatures from around 300 species, all indigenous to the Philippines and the Southeast Asia. It was spectacular.

The crowds pushed and jostled saying things like “the fish look like persons.” Indeed there were fish species that looked like tigers and horses too.

It is good to have public parks and exhibits where families could go for a day’s outing. The Manila Ocean Park is owned by China Oceanis Philippines Inc., a subsidiary of China Oceanis Inc., a Singaporean-registered firm that has operated four oceanariums in China. It is located behind the Quirino Grandstand at Rizal Park.