Tag: National elections 2022

Manila, Philippines – AirAsia in the Philippines has partnered with independent voter information campaign organisation, Vote Pilipinas in a bid to further promote voter education and responsible voting in the country. This is in line with the upcoming national elections happening on 9 May this year.

The airline will also actively participate serving as Vote Pilipinas’ communications partner, broadcasting the series of voter education webinars and Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates to more than 12 million followers of the airasia Super App Facebook page.

In addition, AirAsia Philippines is making the remaining series of Vote Pilipinas Presidential Debates and webinars – Kalusugan (Health), Kamalayan (Awareness) and Kahandaan (Readiness), which covers topics on COVID-19, mental and public health, media literacy, press freedom, misinformation and disinformation, resilience, preparedness and mitigation available every Friday afternoon at the Super App Facebook page.

AirAsia Philippines will also release a series of social media infographics under its response program ‘alwaysREDy’ campaign which aims to provide tips to the voting public, as well as the do’s and don’ts during election day.

AirAsia Philippines CEO Ricky Isla said, “AirAsia will always be apolitical but we want to take part in proactively encouraging Filipinos to exercise their right to suffrage. It is through this partnership with Vote Pilipinas that we responsibly play our part in nation building, especially shaping the next six years of our country which is crucial to exiting the pandemic. At AirAsia, we are ‘alwaysREDy’ to educate and equip our guests with the right information they need to make the right best choice as they cast their votes in May.”

Meanwhile, Ces Rondario, founder at Vote Pilipinas, commented, “This campaign started with the goal to support the Commission on Elections on getting the word out about voter registration. We began with encouraging members of the Vote Pilipinas team to register, then Filipinos nationwide – and now we have successfully gotten around 7.9 million Filipinos to register to vote. But it doesn’t just end there. Our goal now is to make sure that people will actually go out and vote come May 9, and that they are armed with sufficient and factual information to make informed decisions when voting.” 

She added, “With the help of our partners such as AirAsia Philippines, we’re able to widen our audience and deliver the right information to millions of Filipinos across the country. With this, more people can truly get to know this year’s candidates, their platforms, and why it’s important to exercise their right to vote, so they can confidently cast their ballots during election day.”

To entice more people to actively participate in the May polls, AirAsia Philippines is launching its Fly Home to vote promo. From 4 to 10 April, guests can avail of fares as low as P268 (one-way base fare) and get their return ticket for FREE for travels until 30 September.

Manila, Philippines – With the Philippines’ 2022 national elections fast approaching and in order to promote healthy civic discussion online, social media platform Twitter has partnered with the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to amplify voter education initiatives on the policy, product and partnership front to protect the integrity of election-centric conversations on the platform.

To unite people around election conversations on Twitter, the platform has launched a series of customised emojis that aim to be valuable visual links to aid the discoverability of election-related discussions. The emojis will run throughout the campaign period and will be available until 27 May.

From 16 March, a microphone emoji with the Philippine flag colours can be activated by the hashtag #PilipinasDebates2022 and #AskPilipinasDebates, in line with the ongoing national debates of candidates. Meanwhile, starting 31 March, for election-related conversation, Twitter is launching a special emoji that features a ballot box, a universal symbol for elections, set in front of the Philippine flag. They can be activated using the hashtags #2022NLE, #BumotoKa, #Halalan2022, #Piniliay2022, #HIJAlalan2022, #PHVote, #PHVoteResults, and #WeDecide.

In addition, starting 31 March, an emoji featuring the silhouette of a female, who represents the Motherland, will be activated by use of the hashtag #VoteSafePilipinas.

Additionally, online search prompts will be available to facilitate access to authoritative sources of information on voting in both Filipino and English languages. The search prompt is a notification service that connects people to credible information about the elections. When searching for keywords associated with the Philippine General Election such as “NLE 2022,” “Vote Philippines” and “General Election”; the search result will show a notification at the top, directing people to the latest credible election information from COMELEC or VoteSAFEPilipinas.

James B. Jimenez, director of education and information department at COMELEC, said, “With a record-breaking 65.7 million registered voters, the Philippines is expected to hold one of the largest elections in Asia. During this most important time for us as a nation; collaboration between governments, industry partners and civic organisations is crucial to protect the integrity of the elections. We are pleased to be partnering with Twitter to fight misinformation and encourage voter participation.”

To support the diverse voter base, Twitter is partnering and working together with a wide range of partner organisations to ensure Twitter is a place for healthy public conversation. In addition, they will be hosting and/or promoting a series of events on Twitter to educate voters on the elections process, fight against misinformation, and foster healthy discussions around election-specific issues. These organisations include #FactsFirstPH, Foundation for Media Alternatives, GMA Network, Legal Network for Truthful Elections, National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, and Plan International Philippines (@planphilippines).

Monrawee Ampolpittayanant, head of public policy, government and philanthropy for Twitter in Southeast Asia, commented, “At Twitter, protecting the integrity of public conversation during elections is core to our mission. Our policies are designed to help protect against inauthentic information and safeguard healthy public conversations. Drawing on insights and lessons from previous elections, both globally and in the Philippines, we have implemented products, policies, and enforcement updates to protect and support the conversation taking place during the course of the upcoming election.”

She added, “Platforms like Twitter are where important election related conversations are taking place. We are closely monitoring abusive behaviour, this includes content in Filipino, and will not tolerate any rule-violating activities, such as spam. Together with COMELEC, non-profit organisations and other trusted partners on the ground; we continue to harness the power of the #OpenInternet to strengthen civic dialogue and encourage quality participation during this important Philippine General Election.”

The platform also announced that they have formed an internal elections group to lead their electoral integrity work from now through polling day. Using their proprietary-built internal tools, the team will proactively protect Trends on Twitter in the Philippines, support partner escalations, and identify potential threats from malicious actors. 

“Cross-functional by design, we have a dedicated and specially trained team, consisting of the company’s top trust and safety experts with local language capabilities and a deep understanding of local contexts. This blend of perspectives, expertise, and backgrounds is absolutely critical in addressing issues that arise from the elections,” Twitter said in a press statement.

Philippines – As part of Exploretale Technologies’ commitment to making the 2022 National Elections have well-informed voters, the software company based in Antipolo, Philippines has developed an app called Standpoint PH, an unbiased social media platform that allows users to have respectful political discussions. 

According to Exploretale Technologies, while there are social media platforms and news outlets they can depend on to get vital information about the candidates, it cannot be denied that these platforms may be corrupted with biased information and political propaganda. 

With this in mind, it has decided to launch the new app to let voters, non-voters, and politicians altogether exchange insights and knowledge to help voters choose who they deem to be the best candidate to run the country.

Standpoint has three main features, including verification process, which ensures accountability and verified accounts, the politician page, which enables users to tag politician pages so that related posts about that politician are in one place, and the discussion page, which allows the exchange of information and ideas about the candidates, their platforms, and the election process.

John Eris Villanueva, Exploretale Technologies’ founder and product lead, said, “We intend this platform to be a catalyst for change. We want the voters to get to know our politicians better and understand the importance of electing candidates who have the best interests of the Filipino people at heart.” 

The new app was released in early January 2022 and is available on the App Store for iOS and Google Play for Android.