May10
Text Messaging at Election Time in the Philippines
by ClarissaMay 14th is election day in the Philippines. Election time in the Philippines always gets a bit crazy as 14 of the 45 million anticipated votes are believed to be up for possible manipulation. As a result, there are many rules in place such as no free rides to or from polling precincts from candidates. This is also a time when violence increases and so far almost 100 people have been killed half of which are politicians or candidates.
Text messaging plays a big part in Philippine elections as rumors and propaganda fly. In 2001 a lightening campaign rallied hundreds of thousands into the streets of Manila resulting in an uprising that forced President Estrada to leave office. This year things have already started up with one group blasting 250,000 text per day in a smear campaign against top senatorial candidate Loren Legarda.
Every Surface Is Covered With Candidates Faces!
There will probably be more than 1 billion text sent on Monday when Filipinos cast their votes. At the cost of 1 peso per text thats a lot of load. Make sure your loved one has plenty of load for their Globe, Smart or Sun phone so they can keep up with the turn of events and stay in touch with you!
