Woe to savants who worship at the shrine of online social media. Vastly exaggerated by those who are using the new form of communication and connectivity, the social media is not entirely social, with the greater population not linked to any of its tools.
Sources confirm that only some 10 percent of the Philippine population is into the social media in its various forms. The newest form of marketing candidates has not gone mainstream.
There are surveys and surveys. Those who know research are aware of the mystification of research. With regard to the questionnaire, what you ask is what you get. As regards the people responding, things depend on the sampling used. In between the two concepts are more complications that make the research enterprise frustrating and exciting.
My frequent taxi rides have lately given me a new source of data, a set of respondents that provide their own questions and, most of the time, are eager to supply their own answers to their questions. People talk about participatory research, well, taxi drivers talking politics are example of participatory research.
“Sino ba ang presidente natin, sir” [literally, Who is your president, sir]?” The self-administered questionnaire can assume different forms. Some drivers would say, “Sino po ba ang napupusuan natin para maging presidente [literally, Who do you really want to be president]?” The napupusuan has its roots in puso, meaning heart. The Orientalist would observe with glee how the Filipino, like all non-Western persons, would combine the heart with the mind in acts like choosing one’s president.
Rodrigo Duterte is often mentioned by the drivers I talked with. I probe why him? They fear the streets of the city, and the man has this action star etched all over his body. He will kill all those who rob taxi drivers. The taxi drivers will all feel safe once more. At this point, I want to probe further and ask him, what about the rider? Will they be safe from taxi drivers? On the air flashes constructs: Vigilante…Violence… and the words “Due Process” in violet hues.
“Sir, kilala n’yo ba si Marcos [Sir, do you know Marcos]?” The taxi driver who asks this question is the one who proposes Bongbong Marcos as president. I do not really probe this kind of questioning; I shift into another methodology; I go phenomenological, I proceed to usap-usap, or conversation. Were you born during martial law? The response is predictable: He was not born then yet, but people tell him it was very peaceful. Metrocom, curfews, desaparecidos, excesses of a lady administrator who would lecture while supposedly intelligent technocrats took notes, poverty and hopelessness and many more.
One driver offered this voting strategy: Vote for this candidate and that candidate for both are sick and then choose Leny Robredo for vice president. The sick candidate who becomes president will get sicker and then will die. Robredo is the President.
E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com.
1 comment
Nice Article. Adds up kung sino talaga napupusuan ng karaniwang pilipino. #VoteDuterteCayetano Visit more @ https://www.facebook.com/RodyDuterteVolunteersForChange2016/