MANILA, FEBRUARY 20, 2013 – Google Philippines, together with the office of Senator Pia Cayetano, held an exclusive seminar with Philippine legislators to help them leverage online tools to reach their constituencies within and outside the country.
Google emphasized the advantage of using online tools in reaching the 33 million Filipinos connected to the Internet, and the 11 million documented OFWs abroad.
“We want to help our public servants learn how to reach the Filipino people through the Internet by understanding the digital landscape in the Philippines and the online behavior of Filipinos. Filipinos are very technologically-savvy. They are constantly online. And the better way to engage with Pinoys about issues that concern them is to meet them where they are – online, whether on their laptops or mobile phones,” said Narciso Reyes, country manager for Google Philippines.
Mobile penetration in the Philippines is at 111% and around two-thirds of mobile users possess Internet-enabled devices (ADMA 2012). In a 2011 study by Decision Fuel and InMobi, Filipinos are found to spend 54% of their time online on their laptops and mobile phones. They spend 27% of their time watching TV, 13% listening to the radio, and six percent reading newspapers.
“As a public servant, I want to make sure that I am accessible to the people, and at the same time get feedback from them, especially those who spend a lot of time on social networks,” said Senator Pia Cayetano, who maintains a website, blog, Facebook page, YouTube channel, and a Twitter account. “I believe that creating a presence on the Internet will not only help us get closer to our constituencies and interact with them, [but] it will also help them become educated about our programs.”
The seminar focused on how Google Search, Google+ Hangouts, and YouTube can be used to engage better with the people and allow them to interact with government officials, and actively participate in nation building.
"We hope Philippine legislators will be able to use the Internet to strengthen communication and engagement with their constituents. We also want to help Filipinos make informed decisions about issues that affect them, especially this election season,” said Deborah Nga, country lead for public policy and government affairs in the Philippines for Google South East Asia.
During the seminar, Google showed how other countries like the United States, Japan, Korea and Indonesia have successfully launched campaign strategies using Search, YouTube, and Google+ for electorate education in their recent elections.
