A virtual guide to the registration and voting phase

Submitted by:
Amiscosa, Kurt Justine O.
Bricia, Alexi Louisse S.
Calos, Windee Nichol S.
Escober, Stephen M.
Garcia, James Nathaniel M.
Japa, Anna Mae B.
Nevalga, Jann Derk B.
Padar, Daniel Josch C.
Ramos, Hanns Kelle S.
Sarabia, Edriyan C.

Submitted to:
Mr. Albert John Puchero

Date Submitted:
July 10, 2021
 CHAPTER 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Project Description

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the many shortcomings of the current

administration. This crisis proved that the leaders we had elected truly shape the state of
the Philippines’ economy, public health, international relations, and domestic policies.
Individuals desiring to seize control of government spots have continuously deceived the
public through their antics — before every election, they conducted campaigns that
involve making promises and giving financial and material aid to the citizens with their
names and faces featured all over the venue, making the public feel indebted to elect
them to power. After finally securing their seat in the government, these individuals forgot
the promises they had made and pushed through with their own selfish agenda. They
only got richer, and the people they had sworn to serve, especially the poor, only got
poorer.

With this in mind, the project aimed to encourage the youth to register and exercise
their right to suffrage in the upcoming 2022 national elections. The group hoped to equip
these new voters with knowledge and understanding about their rights and their duty as
citizens to participate in the elections.

The group created a Facebook page dedicated to advocating for voter’s

education and voter’s registration. The group regularly published posts that discuss
the importance of voting, the traits that we should for in a candidate, and the
voter’s registration process, among others. In order to facilitate a direct
dialogue with our viewers, the group planned to spearhead a webinar that
talks about these topics.

The beneficiaries were senior high school and college students who
were at least 18 years old before May 9, 2022 — the day of the 2022
national elections. The group aimed to provide information to the
individuals who liked the page. For the webinar, the proponents
expected to have at least ten people to watch and participate in
the discussion.
 Four million 18-year-olds were expected to register for the upcoming polls,
according to the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) spokesperson James Jimenez.
This number had the potential to turn the tides in the 2022 elections, especially if they
were well-informed about what constitutes a responsible government official.

As political science students, the group was proficient about the electoral system
of the Philippines. With their knowledge about the politics of the country, the proponents
were able to provide factual and sound discussions to the beneficiaries. They were also
capable of creating publication materials which are pleasing to the eye; these could pique
the curiosity of the people, which made them interested to view and read what the group
published.

The goal was achieved before the end of September 2021 — the final day of the
voter’s registration for the 2022 elections, with the project having fully encouraged the
beneficiaries to register as voters.
Background of the Project
The Philippines had one of the highest COVID-19 cases in the Southeast Asian
region. Despite the arrival of vaccines, the country continued to struggle to cope as more
severe COVID-19 wave hits. And with the fast-approaching 2022 Presidential Elections,
threats of disenfranchised voters, an unlevel playing field for candidates, voters with
limited education on candidates, and the election being upended by the pandemic had
challenged lawmakers and the COMELEC. The impending danger of the coronavirus had
left citizens in doubt of participating in the upcoming elections. It had also increased the
probability of a lower voter turnout, and worse, as experienced in other countries, the
elections to be postponed.

Suffrage, needless to say, is one of the most integral parts of a democracy, as the
votes of the citizens legitimizes and sustains the country’s political system. Our political
system is based upon the capacity of the majority to sustain it (Borja, 2015). Voter turnout
gives legitimacy to a political system. An analysis of more than 40 case studies developed
by International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) found that as of
March 2021, there are at least 71 countries and territories across the globe that have
decided to postpone their national elections and referendums due to COVID-19. Of the
71 countries, 41 or 58% of which saw a decrease in voter turnouts. A poll with very low
turnout leads to unequal representation among various parts of the population and may
not be an accurate reflection of the will of the people or perhaps the majority. And as to
why the 2022 presidential elections push through; in an interview, election lawyer Romulo
Macalintal states that “Our law is very clear that elections could only be postponed in case
of violence, terrorism, or destruction of poll records which would make it impossible to
conduct a clean and credible election. Thus, it is still very premature to think of
postponement of polls…”

A study from Lancet COVID-19 Commission ranked

the Philippines at 66th out of the 91 countries in terms of
containing the COVID-19.
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) had
over 58 million registered voters in record for the 2022
elections and was targeting to have four million new voter registrants before the deadline.
COMELEC spokesperson James Jimenez said that “Four million potential registrants and
expected a million reactivation. We project that we will have from anywhere around 62
million to 63 million voters in 2022. For 2022 we have about 4 million potential registrants,
people who turned 18, and might or might not register to vote.” Senator Imee Marcos as
well as Senator Francis Pangilinan, further pointed out, based on the data revealed by
the COMELEC citing the projection of the Philippine Statistics Authority, that there would
be 73 million Filipinos who will be aged 18 and above by 2022. With the 58 million
currently registered voters, this meant there were 15 million Filipinos who have yet to be
included in the count of participants for next year’s elections. The senators requested that
the COMELEC set a target of total registered voters with PSA’s projection.
Target Beneficiaries
The target beneficiaries were senior high school and college students, aged at
least 18 years old on or before May 9, 2022, who had not yet registered to vote. The
beneficiaries need not be representatives nor members of an organization.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the group utilized social media platforms in
gathering the beneficiaries, which implied that there is no specific location of the
participants.
The project was necessary since it was vital for the youth to take part in the political
matters of the country, particularly through voting. This instructed and guided the
beneficiaries on the registration process, as well as equipped them with the necessary
knowledge that helped them vote wisely (United Nations, n.d.).
The proponents estimated more than a hundred individuals to serve as
beneficiaries of the project. For the webinar, at least ten of them were expected to attend.
The project helped the beneficiaries become wise voters, capable of deciding who
should best serve as government officials for the upcoming three to six years. With this,
they were able to responsibly fulfill their duties as citizens to look after the future of the
Philippines.
In order to contribute to the project, the beneficiaries needed to have either a
personal computer, a laptop, or a smartphone. An internet connection was also required
for them to participate in the said project.
Proposed Plan of Activities with discussion

Week 1

1. Registration Guidelines. The group created a publication material to be posted

on the Facebook page discussing the guidelines on voter’s registration. It
contained the following: who are qualified to register, when is the registration
period, where is the venue, and what are the things to bring.
2. Reasons why we need to register. To further encourage to beneficiaries to
register as voters, the group posted a publication material enumerating the various
reasons why it is vital for them to register.
Week 2
3. History of Suffrage. The group gave an overview, through an infographic, about
the rich history of suffrage in the Philippines — the first time Filipinas were allowed
to vote, the changes in the minimum voting age, and others.
4. Facts about Philippine Elections. For the beneficiaries to learn more about the
system of elections in the country, the group presented at least five interesting
facts about it.
Week 3
5. National and Local Elections. The group created a publication material that
explored the national and local elections in the country: what they do and how often
they occur.
6. Special Elections. Special elections such as plebiscites and referendums were
tackled and differentiated by the group.
Week 4
7. Qualifications of Candidates. The group provided a rundown of the qualifications
of candidates: who are eligible to run for president? For senator? For city
councilor?
8. Party-List System. The group created an infographic going through the party-list
system of the country, especially their purpose.
Week 5
9. Sangguniang Kabataan. The group discussed everything about Sangguniang
Kabataan, especially its purpose.
10. Overseas Absentee Voting Act. The page explained this particular law, which
aimed to let Filipinos working abroad to participate in the elections without being
in the country.
Week 6
11. Webinar. The group organized a webinar. The speaker discussed everything
about the registration and voting phase for the 2022 national elections.
Documentation Strategies

DOCUMENTATION
ACTIVITY PLAN OF ACTION
TOOLS

Screenshots of all the

Planning Desktop; Smart Phones group calls and meetings
upon planning.

Screenshots of various
publication materials that
will be uploaded on the
said Facebook page.
Interactive Facebook
Desktop; Smart Phones
Page
Screenshots of all the
interactions on every
publication materials and
posts. (Likes, Comments,
and Share)

Screenshots of all the

registered participants
Pre-Registration Google Forms
who answered the Google
forms.

Screenshots during the

main event and an
Webinar Desktop; Smart Phones additional photo together
with organizers, speakers,
and participants.

Screenshots of the overall

Evaluation Google Forms
Google Forms result

Awarding of certificates
Email (Gmail; Yahoo mail) Certificate Template (jpg)
and tokens
Roles of Each Member

1. Page Administrators. They were in charge of the creation and management of

the project’s Facebook page. They posted the contents provided by the publication
creators and provided their respective captions.

Ramos, Escober, Calos,

Hanns Kelle Stephen Windee Nichol

2. Publication Creators. They were tasked to create the publication materials which
were posted in the project’s Facebook page. They also designed the page’s profile
picture and banner.

Sarabia, Amiscosa, Japa,

Edriyan Kurt Justine Anna Mae

3. Hosts. They were responsible for hosting the webinar. They helped discuss and
explain the importance of voting, the voting registration process, the traits of an
ideal leader, and others.

Nevalga, Garcia,
Jann Derk James Nathaniel
 CHAPTER 2
PROJECT DOCUMENTATION AND EVALUATION
Findings

The above chart presents the problems witnessed by the audience of the
Facebook page of Dapat Tama, gathered from the evaluation form posted in the same
page.
Of the 26 feedbacks shared by the audience of Dapat Tama, two (2) expressed
that the gap between the uploads is huge. This problem was the most impactful as it made
the page idle and inconsistent. Since voters’ education is such a crucial and relevant
topic, the audience hoped for a more consistent schedule of posts.
The remaining half of problems were split upon the short duration of postings and
the low reach or engagement of the page. Similar to the huge gap between uploads, the
short duration of postings led to the audience seeking more publication materials from the
page.
The issue of having low reach/engagement, on the other hand, caused some posts
to fail to appear in the respective news feeds of the audience.
 The chart shown above discusses the problems prevalent in the joint webinar of
Dapat Tama and ToDo Rehistrado — Siyasat: Political Science Voters’ Education
Program. The data were gathered right after the conclusion of the said webinar.
Half of the problems reported were about the technical difficulties apparent during
the whole event. Of all the issues, this was the most severe as it affected the intelligibility
of both the speakers and the presenters, making some of their sentences
incomprehensible.
Meanwhile, the briefness of the open forum portion of the webinar ranked second
amongst the problems faced by the event. Since th e webinar was an opportunity for the
participants to clarify some concerns regarding the elections, it disappointed some of
them that only a few inquiries were asked to the speakers. A longer allotted time for the
open forum could have enabled more individuals to address their questions to the
speakers, which would make the event more successful than it already is.
Concurrently, the short promotion period of the webinar was also an issue. As the
advertisement and registration link was only posted a day before the schedule of the
webinar, it caused only about 100 people to register for the event, and about 60 to actually
join the webinar.
 Finally, one (1) participant of the webinar criticized the low number of participants
in the webinar. As said earlier, voters’ education programs are vital for the upcoming 2022
elections. With this, it is best to reach more participants to partake in the webinar so as
to help even more people to be enlightened on how significant their votes are for next
year’s national elections.

Recommendations

Recommendati
Problem Cause(s) Advantages Disadvantages
on

If a group
member fails to
Problem 1
complete a
given work for
There is a whatever
significant Unaccomplis
reason, the All tasks will be
time gap hment of task Other members of
group leader completed with
between the due to lack of the group might be
shall assign a the cooperation
posting of manpower seen to be
new assignment of the entire
each piece and ideas for sluggish.
that is group.
of published content
appropriate for
content. his or her
situation.
Furthermore,
the unfinished
work will be
 handed on to
another team
member.

The proponents

Problem 2 shall research The information

and make use
obtained may
of any verified
Insufficient More data will contain
Lack of
information
researched be obtained. inaccuracies that
available found in the
data for lead to misleading
data
web and other
content information
possible
resources.

To ensure
adequate
The project's
Problem 3 promotion,
The contents of intended
proponents
the publication demographic -
Difficulty to must promote
Insufficient will be seen by which are the
gather large the project not
promotion of a broader newly registered
number of just to a wide
the project audience. voters, will be
audiences range of social
outnumbered.
media
audiences, but
also to peers
 and relatives.

All written data are gathered from the evaluation form for both the Facebook page
and webinar.

Conclusions

The project went and passed, though it was a success on the part of the students,
finally accomplishing their requirement for National Service Training Program - Civic
Welfare Training Service (NSTP-CWTS), it certainly was not the case from the
perspective of the beneficiaries and audiences, whom the project failed to educate
effectively. The page of Dapat Tama did not fulfill its fullest potential when it came to
reaching as many interested netizens on Facebook as it had hoped for. For one, though
it was not poorly managed, there was certainly a lack of attention on the page. It is
because the proponents, being students, were not only focused on just one business. As
Political Science students, they were actually eager to serve and practice good
citizenship, if not for the need to balance every effort to make way for the other subjects
that need their attention as well. In short, NSTP-CWTS was not the only course they
needed to handle.
From the joint webinar, there were remarks from the audience that pointed out the
technical difficulties that plagued the webinar Siyasat: Political Science Voters’ Education
Program; saying that it was the fault that really impaired the quality of the event. Prior to
the program, both teams, and all the members that comprised them were ecstatic, even
dedicating three solid days of trying test runs just to make sure that every aspect of the
event will go smoothly. Though it is not a reasonable excuse, it is a fact that most of the
students were first timers in running such an en deavor, besides the prime expectation
that technical glitches can and will happen in any way.
It can be concluded that the students needed to work on their cohesiveness. For
one, being able to perform with a group, and carry out the given role. For the oth er, being
able to work as a class, utilizing all the talents, and skills offered by each member to
achieve success. For every member, it should be instinctive to consider everyone’s effort,
that they themselves have to reciprocate or even go beyond the dedication they are
witnessing among their company. The members have to realize first that in being able to
perform and serve others effectively, as the cornerstone of the study of NSTP, it has to
start from their service of one-another in their respective groups.

Photo Documentation

The proponents created the Facebook page “Dapat Tama” on May 19, 2021, which has
already gotten over 100 likes and 500 engagements from people of all ages in the first
week after its debut publication material was released.
A published material featuring COMELEC's voter registration campaign was posted on
May 20, 2021, and it was able to reach 1,214 people.
A few days after the previously uploaded content went public, on May 25, 2021 another
publication material that contains information about the importance of each individual's
vote was published, reaching 1,760 people.
 Apart from the prime material that teaches people about the significance of a single
person's vote. On May 31, 2021, proponents of this campaign were also allowed to
present real information, such as how our country's voting procedure began.

On June 21, 2021, a month after the Facebook Page was created, new published
material containing some historical information regarding the Philippine voting process
was published and was able to reach 500 individuals.
 On June 22, 2021, a few days before the actual webinar, Dapat Tama and ToDo
Rehistrado were able to upload the official publication material for the webinar entitled:
Siyasat.

Following the official announcement of the webinar, proponents of the campaign were
able to post another set of materials on June 23, 2021, which contains the information
about the speakers.
The proponents, in collaboration with ToDo Rehistrado, successfully hosted Siyasat:
PSC12 Voters' Education Webinar on June 23, 2021, with over 50 participants from
various institutions.

On July 2, 2021, the proponents of Dapat Tama released their evaluation form.
Group Reflection

Before the academic year started most of us were just a bunch of kids, coming out
of high school with loads of raw knowledge. As students of politics, we are always eager
to apply the lessons that we learn in school, especially us youngsters, working hard and
waiting for our chance. We are first and foremost, thankful and honored to be given the
opportunity to have conducted a service for our community, one that we, as students of
politics, are truly passionate about. As the maxim goes, "Kapag gusto may paraan," even
in these trying times, we were given the opportunity and we were able to push through.
One of the most important lessons that we have learned is this, "Teamwork makes
the dream work." A community service, especially one like this where it is online, could
not have been done as smoothly if there was only one man running the whole show. From
planning, researching, content conceptualization, and media strategy to content creation,
content publication, public engagement, finding speakers, and attracting participants it
takes a whole lot of work and a whole lot of time. Especially for us "amateurs" guidance
is really needed, and it is a privilege to have our professor fact checking all of our contents,
sharing their resources and connections, suggestin g steps and actions as our mentors,
especially because they have the same interests as us. We find that it is imperative that
we recognize each of our weaknesses and strengths, that way we are able to effectively
add value in executing our community service. We must know ourselves and recognize
what we can and cannot do so as to keep the process smooth and our chances towards
success high. This also gives us an idea of how we should build our program and our
strategies, plus we find how we should divide and distribute specific tasks to each and
everyone.
We find that it is essential to find ways to effectively communicate, needless to say,
as a group we must work together, the work of one should align with the work of the other.
Our content researchers must be able to effectively communicate to our content creators,
the same goes between our creators and page managers so we can publish our
publication materials smoothly. Communication is key to success, especially in an
organization or a group. Sometimes some of our group mates run into trouble, whether
personal or school related, so we also have to make sure that we are aware of that so
everybody else can catch what the others may miss, everybody must be ready to help
each other.
We also find how important fact checking is, and when we say fact checking, we
mean checking it twice or even ten times. We learned this the hard way in creating one
of our publication materials, luckily, we have our professor, a guide to save us from our
mistake. As community servers, as advocates, it is imperative that we are reliable and
trustworthy. So, we need to research and study really hard, having experienced a glimpse
of what it is like to be on the job, to be on the ground, humbled us because we saw how
little we know and how much more there is to learn. We find that when we engage with
the community, we must make sure that we are ready, we should have the information
necessary to answer their queries, we must have the energy necessary to provide
assistance, and we must have the knowledge necessary to serve them properly.

Future Plans

As the culminating activity had come and passed, the advocates’ lives were never
the same again. They have become more woken up by the social issues happening
around them; became more knowledgeable in staging/organizing such projects; their
work ethic and chemistry towards each other was established. This course has really
transitioned the students of PSC12 into civil servants, finally taking their first step towards
fulfilling their rightful place not just as political scientists, but as hands-on stewards of the
society as well. They have finally conquered the inferiority complex from within
themselves and taken the initiative of materializing a civic sacrament of educating their
fellow citizens as an act of planting the hopes for the future. For now , they are still
amateurs, but they are optimistic in transforming themselves as professionals.
The project was successfully launched and brought to the people as planned, but
it was not perfect. The benefactors’ remarks upon the evaluation form are mixed. But of
course, there is always room for lots of improvement, besides, the students have never
lost their spark and are still eager for more projects. The world can expect more from the
youthful spirit of the PSC12 students that they will still confidently conti nue and offer more
to the society. Because from now on they will no longer start from scratch, they will be
starting from experience. The students/advocates will continue moving forward and try
harder until every member is confident enough to lead their own advocacy as well-
established, learned student leaders.
References

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