Gretchen Ho Joins "Bayan Mo Ipatrol Mo" (BMPM) Efforts

Gretchen Ho made headlines when she started off as a Lady Eagle in UAAP a few years back. She's also made waves as a host, VJ and the better half of lover boy Robi Domingo, but during this small gathering at ELJ Building, she's putting the fame, influence and popularity to good use as she joins the "Bayan Mo Ipatrol Mo" family. The organization is part of ABSCBN's vast network that delves on citizen journalism, voter education and responsible reportage. Gretchen is already making herself useful by joining in on recent symposiums, workshops and telling the generation today how becoming a part of BMPM can actually make this election season a better one. She's been in different parts of the country already and taking much of her time to educate the youth, voters and non voters how to put to good use their voice on social media. Blogging per se like what we're doing is also part of that since we also are disseminating information to different sets of audiences and letting them know different ways how to help the country and voting public.

The forums and workshops will be done extensively before the actual election day and they'll be needing help from the likes of ordinary people like you and me. Citizen journalists in whatever way, shape or form, may actually send their reports to BMPM here and may get featured with ABSCBN's news channels, TV Patrol, Bandila and others. Ms. Jing Castañeda was also there to give her views, whilst still covering Mar and Leni in the Presidential elections. It'll be a great venue to tell what things are happening in your side of the world. With a "learned" disposition, you can make this a place to tell a larger audience what needs to be done so that politicians won't be abusing any of your rights, the rights of the community and the general public. The symposiums and workshops are important so that students, citizens can go ahead and ask questions so a definitive answer can be given and make your efforts a good one to educate others. We can also harness social media, handle the information here online or offline and use it to decide for the greater good of the country. ABSCBN also made apps for the COMELEC so it could help the government and you.

Here are snippets of our talk yesterday afternoon.

I also asked about the challenges that they're having while doing BMPM as they somehow mentioned some parts of the country are quite difficult to go to, they have confirmed security is a concern and is of utmost importance. They usually go to these destinations prepared so even if they may have some "not so much fans" of the network, they do what they have to do in order to achieve their goal of educating the Filipino voter no matter where they are. I felt that was a little assuring, hopefully people would be more receptive, participate and make a clear, sound judgment when the day to choose our leaders would come. Thank you to the people from BMPM for having us! It was a pleasure to hear from you and what you plan to do with Gretchen now that she's part of the organization.

Gretchen by the way also introduced her new blog called Woman In Action which you can find in www.gretchenho.com. She'll be posting demographics, and her causes to help with women empowerment. She feels it's her duty to use her influence and voice and act on women's issues, something we felt was a thing she's very passionate about. You may visit her blog soon for stories about that.

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ABSCBN Launches Apps for Bayan Mo iPatrol Mo: Tayo Na!

This took me a lot of time to post because for once this really made me think about the importance of my vote in this coming elections. I end up making this bit a little opinionated; asking myself who to choose, why and how to actually take care of my vote. It's a huge debacle for any person to always find faults or over complicate things... but it really is. You and I know how dirty politics is in the Philippines, let alone the voting process. We've begun automating the elections but still doubt the outcome since most probably think there's still cheating somewhere. If not on the actual voting itself, the printing of the ballot, the counting or the results.

We're all allowed to voice our opinions, but who's going to do something about our qualms? It won't be this government alone, we need to be as vigilant as our future depends on it. This is how I see it... and it's a good thing even private companies like ABS CBN spearhead campaigns like these to educate the Filipino voter about this privilege. What am I talking about?  

Bayan Mo iPatrol Mo is a campaign that was launched years ago by ABS CBN initially to get people like you and me to go out, register and exercise our inalienable right to vote. They have been extremely successful in doing that. This year they added something cool to the tagline called "Tayo Na!" which empowers the ordinary citizen to remain vigilant as the election and campaign starts. They are slowly doing this through voters education i.e. workshops, social media and mainstream too. Giving the youth real life examples, the correct text and rules on elections, voting and other matters concerned with this exercise can make them a force against unscrupulous politicians who think they can get away with cheating, vote buying and election related violence. A single text, report on Facebook, Twitter, any social media channel, Email or a call can get teams mobilized so your concern can reach the proper authorities - and later take action on it. Ms. Jing Castaneda was so enthusiastic to say that "the youth can play a part in this campaign" and she also mentions how important your role is in making sure you and your vote won't be violated come election day. I only watch her on her morning weekend shows but to see how she wants things to happen so our generation could benefit from it, she's a good person indeed.She's also hopeful because as she sees the people who frequent their workshops, she mostly sees the youth take part full of hope that someday and some way it will all be better. She enjoins us to take time and download the apps from the apple store and android too as this technology would get everything done faster, more efficiently, with the correct information that they need to take action on complaints. I installed it after a few minutes =)

Tita Inday Varona who heads BMPM is pretty hands on. She gave us a picture of what it was like when they were just starting. Now together with their partners, COMELEC, PPCRV and the private sector, they were able to make their operations nationwide. It's relatively bigger, better, faster and more efficient now. With the help of technology, they were able to do things unprecedented. There are still some things to work on but she's optimistic that with the help of ordinary citizens (like you and me), social media practitioners (like the bloggers that were there) and the community, it would be possible to some how some day things would actually be better. Cheating would be eliminated and the citizenry would play a pro active role in doing things for themselves. Change the whole culture of how we are during this period of elections and stay optimistic that REAL change can come. She's witness to how the youth sector (even those of who haven't even voted yet); that they want to learn and start change from their generation. This is the same reason why they will continue to hold workshops in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao together with their 300,000 strong volunteers and I'm not surprised. It is also the same ideals that I also see in me, maybe even more.

Ms. Ging Reyes ABSCBN Senior Vice President for News and Current Affairs wanted to really talk to us. Even though bloggers are not communications/literature majors, she sees our drive to write extremely important. She knows the value of bloggers nowadays and she sees the influence we play in cyberspace. She points out that even though some trad media practitioners look down on online media (and they said that bluntly), they can never deny that we are the future. She feels it was the same thing that they used to do to broadcasters, cameramen in the past; that is why she really understands us. Our contribution and power to disseminate information at a touch of a button is evidently also prone to use and abuse. Our responsibility to our audience is BIG. Telling them about how important each vote that they cast for change to happen in our country is easy; and since it is personal, they trust us more no matter what medium we choose. She's been outside the country and back but she has always found hope in our people. She knows we can achieve change, and it will happen soon. She laments even an ordinary Pinoy can do it. They have several avenues in BMPM that can spark that change she's referring to. Just head on to http://bmpm.abs-cbnnews.com and click on the tab that says HOW TO SUBMIT.

You can also head on to the App Store or Google if you plan to use the ABSCBN News Application or the COMELEC App. Just fill out the necessary details and you'll be taken cared of. If you also plan to become a volunteer, you can contact them on the same avenues or head on to http://bmpm.abs-cbnnews.com/ and check their events, workshops and caravans scheduled to appear on your local government/private venues nationwide! If bloggers like me can do it, so can you!

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Bayan Mo, iPatrol Mo: Tayo Na!