Working for President Aquino III « Social Media for Social Change

Working for President Aquino III

In late 2009, I resigned from my job and volunteered to campaign for Atty. Alex Lacson, who was running for Senator under the team of now President Noynoy Aquino. He is one of my living heroes. He wrote the book entitled "12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do To Help Our Country," which promotes the principles of good citizenship.

Good citizenship is all about Filipinos helping fellow Filipinos, and in the process building a nation. His book invites all of us to become active participants in nation-building and to become part of the solutions to our country's problems.

A little background

All of us want to make a difference in the world, specially for me who grew up in Mindanao. I have always wanted to feel how it is to be in the nation's capital and influence things. And so my journey to Manila began.

I went to college in Davao City and I was fortunate enough to be offered a job in Laguna after I graduated. I was in the private sector for a period of 5 years before deciding I wanted an unconventional career, one that I will be shaping and developing on my own, with help from a few friends. I have always believed that life is what you make of it - close to the saying that goes like this "if life hands you lemons, make a lemonade." (or better yet, start a lemonade stand)

In the middle of 2006, I was fortunate enough to meet Atty. Alex Lacson, who happened to read something I wrote that was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. We met in a coffee shop and talked about our aspirations and dreams for the country. We kept in touch for the next few years and in 2007, when his name was floated as a possible Senatorial candidate, I immediately offered to be part of the volunteers for his campaign. Fortunately, he did not run then. This period allowed me to continue working for an international bank and later on to a fast-moving consumer goods company where I honed my inter-personal, networking, marketing, negotiation and selling skills. Skills that I later learned were quite invaluable.

When Alex Lacson decided to run for the Senate in late 2009, I immediately resigned from my job and offered to help him in his New Media campaign. President Obama's campaign in 2008 already showed us that Social Media now plays a role in elections and though the Philippines lags the US in terms of Internet penetration, there are now around 30 million Internet users on the average per month (a substantial percentage of Filipino voters). And so in December 2009, I joined the small band of volunteers that was to be the Alex Lacson for Senator Movement.

Look who's at the background, taken during Rock the Vote Concert May 2, 2010

It was an enriching campaign. I learned a lot of lessons and met a lot of people. I met a lot of wonderful people during the campaign - people who were very passionate in helping build Our Dream Philippines, a country we can all be proud of.

Alex Lacson finished with over 5 million votes. A remarkable feat but it was not enough to land him in the top 12.

In late July 2010, when I was already preparing to go back to the private sector, I was invited to head the New Media unit which was to be created under a new Office of the Press Secretary (now called Presidential Communications Operations Office or PCOO for short). I hesitated at first because I knew working in government would be challenging but I also knew I would probably regret not trying. And so I joined the government in late July 2010 and officially started August 1, 2010; responsible for the Office of the President's official website (http://www.president.gov.ph) and official presence on social networking channels such as Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/presidentnoy) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/presidentnoy), among others. I was the first head of this unit, I hope it warrants me a footnote in the history books.

Launching of www.president.gov.ph last August 16, 2010

It was an opportunity to make a difference for the country and to help introduce the concept of New Media in Public Service/Governance to government agencies. It has allowed me to touch base with so many people in government and gain insights into how our government works and also how we can help the government.

I was mainly responsible for setting the mission of the New Media unit, which was, albeit a bit dramatic, to make heroes of our people.

Over the course of doing my job, I help built the movement that we now call as the Philippine Funds for Little Kids (learn more at http://yellowboat.tumblr.com).

After a year of working for the Office of the President, I realized that I can do more outside with my new found mission of helping kids get to school and so I set out to do just that.

Some notable achievements: