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E-GOVERNANCE IN THE PHILIPPINES:
THE TRUE VALUE OF E-PARTICIPATION IN THE GOVERNANCE PROCESS
Benjamin D HUFFMAN PhD Candidate Nagoya University, Graduate School of International Development
Abstract
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have the potential to transform the political landscape and improve the governance process. This move by governments to improve public services and enhance representation through the use of ICTs may encourage citizens to participate more in the governance process by enlarging their choices and avenues for interacting with governments. Whether citizens find value in utilizing these technologies is contentious. Further research needs to be done to determine the conditions or factors affecting citizen’s real opportunities to achieve value through e-Participation. This paper investigates these factors, while taking into account the vastly different values and circumstances affecting citizens at the local level. In order to increase civic engagement and participation in the governance process, it is important to understand how citizens utilize e-Government services and to identify the barriers that prevent them from doing so in order to establish policies that can address these issues. Through examining the flow of resources, capabilities and utility this research seeks to understand the conditions affecting citizens’ real opportunities to obtain value through e-Participation. Moreover, this research explores the potential benefits and drawbacks of ICT utilization by citizens and government actors at the local level. The main findings of this paper show that e-Participation as a political movement will most likely be the responsibility of the uprising ‘intellectual class.’ While citizen’s value governance and democracy, the government’s effort to increase e-Governances has not translated into value to the common citizen; furthermore, the National Government is out of touch with the needs of the local people. The expansion of choices for participating in the governance process has not lead to an increase in benefits for the state or for its people; although, the barriers faced by local citizens to achieve valued functionings have been substantially reduced.
Keywords: E-Participation, Information and Communication Technology, Web 2.0, E-
Governance, Capability Approach.
Introduction
Information at the speed of thought is an actuality no longer relegated to the
inner-dwellings of the mind. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are
paving the way for citizens to become more actively involved in the way they are
governed. Equally, governments are allocating substantial resources to improve public
2
services and representation through the use of ICTs, allowing citizens to participate more
in the governance process by enlarging their choices and avenues for interacting with
governments. ICT-driven development is becoming the cornerstone of this new
development paradigm (UNPAN, 2004). This technological form of governance is called
e-Governance, which is the utilization of ICTs by governments to encourage citizen
participation in the governance process and to improve transparency, accountability and
effectiveness (UN, 2006).
The introduction of contemporary technologies into the governance process has brought
citizens and public servants closer together. This has been seen as a positive step for
development (Macintosh, 2004). The traditional boundaries of governance are being
erased by the influx of second generation ICTs and applications, also referred to as Web
2.0. Studies have shown that a countries ability to utilize ICTs effectively is directly
related to its economic growth (Labelle, 2005). While the expansion of opportunities for
citizens has increased through choice and access, this environment may not directly
translate into value to the government or to the citizens they serve. This paper examines
the relationship between government actors and citizens through the use of ICTs in an
effort to understand the conditions affecting citizen’s real opportunities to achieve value
through e-Participation at the local level. Derived from this notion, the capability
approach provides a philosophical foundation on which to build a theory.
Defining the Terms
The field of research pertaining to e-Governance is not rooted in any one
conventional discipline. The paths being paved, cross between a number of research
domains, particularly Political Science, Computer Science, Information Systems and
Public Administration. As such, it is essential to provide a working definition of the key
terms within e-Governance as well as provide an elementary model for linking the terms
together.
3
E-Governance and e-Government are synonymous terms, while the terms are often used
interchangeable; e-Governance is the utilization of ICTs to enhance governance whereas
E-Government refers to the use of ICTs by government agencies to improve the delivery
of information and public services to its citizens;1 however, in order for this to take place,
citizens need to engage in this electronic form of governance. This term is called e-
Participation, which is defined as the sum total of both the government programs to
encourage participation and the willingness of the citizen to do so.2 A final component to
e-Governance that this paper would like to introduce is termed e-Democracy. E-
Democracy is a component of e-Participation and will be investigated as such. E-
Democracy is an umbrella term that broadly describes moving citizens from passive
consumers of information to active ICT participants within the democratic/governance
process (Garson, 2006; Backus, 2001; Lee, et al., 2011). While e-Government tends to
follow a top-down approach, e-Democracy tends to follow a bottom-up approach,
although there are differing viewpoints on this (Clift, 2004; Coleman, 2005). Figure 1
highlights the key terms with ICT/Web2.0 residing at the center of the evolutionary
model.
1 Taken from The World Bank: http://go.worldbank.org/M1JHE0Z280. Referenced 01/25/2015. 2 Taken from the United Nations Public Administration Programme. http://unpan3.un.org/egovkb/egovernment_overview/eparticipation.htm. Referenced 01/07/2014.
4
Figure 1: Evolutionary E-Governance 2.0 Model
Source: Author
There are three main actors in the governance process: government, civil society and
business. In order for e-Governance to be successful, participation between the three
actors must take place. Within e-Governance, e-Participation is broken down into the
three nomenclatures.3 The first, Government-to-Government (G2G) involves sharing data
and conducting electronic exchanges between governmental actors. This involves both
intra- and inter-agency exchanges at the national level, as well as exchanges between the
national, provincial, and local levels. The second, Government-to-Business (G2B)
involves business-specific transactions (e.g. payments, sale and purchase of goods and
services) as well as business-focused services. The final nomenclature is Government-to-
Citizen (G2C), which involves initiatives designed to facilitate people’s interaction with
government as consumers of public services and as producers of information. This
includes interactions related to the delivery of public services as well as to participation
in the consultation and decision-making process. While e-Participation crosses all
3 Referenced from the United Nations Public Administration Country Studies website: http://unpan3.un.org/egovkb/en-us/About/UNeGovDD-Framework, on June 16, 2015.
e-Governance
e-Participation
e-Government
ICT/Web2.0
Evolutionary E-Governance 2.0 Model
• Policy & Security • Back-office operations/Interoperability • Front-line services • Transparency, Accountability, Efficiency
• G2G, G2B, G2C & C2C • Participation in E-Government services • Participation in the Democratic process
• Incorporation of e-Participation, e-Government & ICT/Web 2.0
• Good Governance
• Information & Communication Infrastructure
• Applications • Social Networking • Mobile Networking
5
classifications, this paper intends to investigate the significant relationship between
government to citizens (G2C). To better understand this, Table 1 illustrates these
concepts within the context of this study.
Table 1
Term Working Definition
E-Governance Encompasses all concepts since their overriding goals are the same,
which is to improve governance through the use of ICTs. Although e-
Governance is the broader term, e-Government is the term more
commonly associated with academic writings.
E-Government Is a narrower concept that focuses on the delivery of information and
pubic services, along with back-end processes. This study will touch on
the evolution of e-Government paying special attention to citizen
participation in the governance process.
E-Participation Is the focal point of this study; specifically it investigates the
relationship between government to citizen (G2C) and vice versa to
determine the capabilities as well as the values citizens place on
interacting with government through the use of Web 2.0 technologies.
E-Democracy Is a component of e-Participation. It refers to the role citizens and
government actors play in promoting democracy through the use of
ICTs.
Improving Governance through E-Participation
The potential benefits of improving governance through the use of ICTs have
been well documented; nonetheless this author would like to stress the word “potential.”
Governments are inclined to focus on enhancing ICTs and e-Government services rather
than on encouraging citizens to participate in the governance process (Burgess and
Hougton, 2006; O’Toole, 2009; Verdegem and Hauttekeete, 2010; Jimenez, et al., 2012;
6
Freeman, 2013). This is because investments in e-Government services have the
prospective to increase efficiencies and lower costs; whereas, investing in e-Participation
reduces the governments control over information and decision making (Thompson,
2005; Flamm, et al., 2006; Hernon and Cullen, 2006; Verdegem and Hauttekeete, 2010;
Lester & Hutchins, 2012). Furthermore, research has shown that improvements in e-
Government does not necessarily lead to improvements in e-Participation (Kardan and
Sadeghiani, 2011; Blakeley and Matsuura, 2001; Cho, 2008). Further research needs to
be done to determine where the correlations exist.
In order to increase civic engagement and participation in the governance process, it is
important to understand how citizens utilize e-Government offerings and to identify the
barriers that prevent them from doing so in order to establish policies that can address
these issues (Scott, 2002; ITU 2003; Alampay, 2006). One of the aims of this study is to
examine whether civic engagement through the use of ICTs has value to citizens.
Through examining the flow of resources, capabilities,4 and utility this study will seek to
understand the conditions affecting citizens’ real opportunities to achieve valued
functionings in order to strengthen the state by deepening democracy through a more
bottom-up approach. Moreover, this research seeks to explore the potential benefits and
drawbacks of ICT utilization by citizens and government actors at the local level. Many
studies have heralded the use of ICTs for increasing civic engagement (Hague and
Loader, 1999; Moon, 2002; Macintosh, 2004; Mossberger, et al., 2008), but there needs
to be more attention placed on the affects e-Participation has on citizens at the local level
and whether those affects have a positive influence on their everyday lives.
Scope and Framework
The freedom of citizens to achieve valued functionings, may lead to increases in
empowerment and other intrinsic utilities; however, it may also be overshadowed by the
misuse of information by government, politicians and/or elites for their own political
purposes (Hutchins and Lester, 2011). This research will seek to identify the core set of
4 Which some researchers refer to as freedoms and functionings.
7
capabilities needed for citizens to achieve value though e-Participation with government.
Furthermore, it intends to provide evidence on how ICTs can change the political
landscape and the rules of the game, while providing a framework on which to further
investigate the conditions affecting citizens' interest in participating in the governance
process.
The capability approach will be used as a foundation to evaluate the social arrangements,5
not just the resources, affecting citizens’ decisions to participate in e-Governance. The
Philippines has been selected as a research site based on its aggressive push to improve
information and communication infrastructure (ICI), e-Goverment, and most notably e-
Participation. Although the Philippines has a high penetration rate of mobile phone
technology of more than one per citizen6 and improved ICI through policies like
Executive Order No. 2657 and Administrative Order No. 398 , e-Participation has
regressed substantially for over a decade – not until recently has this trend reverse
course.9 The capability approach implies that evaluating access alone is not enough;
when evaluating the level of entitlements, both the range of communication options and
the ability of citizens to make use of these options to achieve their relevant functionings
are important (Garnham 1997). This is why it will be important to not just focus on
citizens and technology, but also the government actors that influence the allocation of
limited resources.
The analytical framework for this research has its roots grounded in Amartya Sen’s
capability approach (Sen, 1999) and Alampay’s revised approach for measuring ICTs
(Alampay, 2006). Unlike the basic needs approach, which focuses its poverty measures
on a core set of resources (Streeten et al, 1981), the capability approach explores the
5 In order to assess e-Participation in broad comprehensive terms, as sketched out in Sen’s book The Idea of Justice, 2009. 6 Information gathered from the Commission on Information and Communication Technology “The Philippine Digital Strategy” plan. http://www.ncc.gov.ph/files/PDS.pdf. Referenced 01/08/2014. 7 This order setout to improve information and communication infrastructure throughout the country and reduced the cost of service. 8 This order tasks the Department of Science and Technology with putting government services online and improving communication infrastructure throughout the country. 9 As referenced in Figure 3: e-Government Overview of the Philippines.
8
ability of people to convert resources into funtionings.10 Moreover, Sen’s capability
approach (CA) provides the basis for the conceptualization of inclusive democracy,
where the individual has the freedom to develop the necessary capability to be able to
choose between different opportunities (Sen, 2009). This provides a useful philosophical
foundation for conceptualizing new ICTs. While Amartya Sen rightly identified that the
focus of human development is not in the acquisition of resources (Sen, 1992), this
research will show that within the realm of e-Governance, expanding the capabilities of
citizens does not go far enough. In fact it might be time to ‘go back’ and refocus on
utility – not from a traditional approach that focuses on income, but from one that
adequately captures the varied and multidimensional nature of the human condition with
in the realm of e-Participation. Figure 2 lays-out the analytical framework for this study.
It follows the information and resource cycle also know as the ‘empowerment loop’
(Nath, 2003).
Figure 2: Analytical Framework
10 Martha Nussbaum’s work on the capability approach related to social justice was reviewed; however Sen’s model is highly adaptive, which works well for this study.
Governance Process
Individuals • Age • Income • Gender • Education/Capacity • Location (w/r to ICT)
Capabilities • The core set of
capabilities required for citizens to achieve value through e-Participation
Utility/Value to citizens and local politicians
• Intrinsic • Instrumental
Influence of government actors
Realized Functions and Freedoms • Benefits • Barriers • Other conversion factors
Information and Resource Cycle
Formal
Informal
9
Grounded in the CA, this study examines individuals based on various demographic
criteria, while determining the influence government actors have on the empowerment
loop. By doing so, this paper intends to provide a theoretical model that will help policy
makers understand the conditions affecting citizens’ capabilities to achieve valued
functionings. The model will provide a framework for explaining how e-Participation is
influenced by the utility and value citizens place in governance and show that resources
and capabilities, as the dominate discourse, should no longer take precedence over utility
when evaluating e-Participation in the governance process.
Research Approach and Rational
ICTs in the Philippines have grown exponentially over the past twelve years.
Over a period of a decade, e-Participation the Philippines dropped by 69 percent,11 while
the country’s infrastructure index has more than tripled.12 This is an ideal example of the
criticisms proposed in previous research that there is no correlation between investment
in ICT and improvement in e-Participation (Kardan and Sadeghiani, 2011; Blakeley and
Matsuura, 2001; Cho, 2008). However, over the past two years, the e-Participation Index
in the Philippines has leapfrogged 15 countries (UNPAN, 2015). Figure 3 illustrates e-
Government in the Philippines over the past twelve years. 13
11 From an e-Participation index ranking of 0.672 to an index ranking of 0.2105. 12 This is the largest drop by any country in the world over this period of time, as noted by United Nations’ E-Government Development Database (http://unpan3.un.org/) 13 Mathematically, the EGDI is a weighted average of three normalized scores on three most important dimensions of e-government, namely: (1) scope and quality of online services (Online Service Index, OSI), (2) development status of telecommunication infrastructure (Telecommunication Infrastructure Index, TII), and (3) inherent human capital (Human Capital Index, HCI). EGDI = 1/3 (OSI normalized + TII normalized + HCI normalized)
10
Figure 3: e-Government Overview of the Philippines
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
2003 2004 2005 2008 2010 2012 2014
E-Participation Index
EGovernment Index
Human Capital Index
Online Service Index
Infrastructure Index
Source: http://unpan3.un.org. 2014 Global E-Government Survey. This data was gathered from the
UN E-Goernment Development Database. Accessed 07/14/2015.
This remarkable jump over such a short period of time makes the Philippines an
interesting case for examination. While there has been a strong focus on e-Government
services and infrastructure over the past 12 years, e-Participation has fluctuated. The
Philippines’ continuing political and social unrest has been seen as obstacles to the
consolidation and deepening of democracy in the political system (Quimpo, 2008).
However, recent trends suggest that unique factors may be influencing this substantial
shift in citizen engagement.
As established in the Evolutionary E-Governance 2.0 Model, E-Governance is a
multidimensional process that consists of three components. Figure 4 expands on this
concept breaking-down each component into its own distinctive sphere with e-
Participation at its center.
11
Figure 4: Multidimensional Components
The research for this paper was conducted using a mixed method approach. Priority was
given to the qualitative data utilizing a sequential exploratory strategy (Creswell, 2003).
An ethnographic approach was used in the field to observe traditional interaction as well
as to evaluate the role that ICTs play in the governance process. This was done by
observing the usage of Web 2.0 technologies by three local politicians from the Central
Visayas region of the Philippines.
In order to understand the conditions or factors affecting citizen’s real opportunities to
achieve value through e-Participation at the local level, field research was conducted in
three stages. The first stage consisted of reviewing Philippine policies and research
related to e-Governance and e-Participation. An examination of ICT tools, programs and
infrastructure at the national and local level was additionally investigated. A final and
related component in stage one was studying the use of Web 2.0 e-Government services.
To achieve this objective, the case study approach was taken as an empirical inquiry that
Technology Government
Citizens
- Government Actors - E-Government Services
- Web 2.0 - 3rd Party Application - Communication Technology - Communication Infrastructure
- Demographical Stratified
E-Participation
12
investigates a contemporary phenomenon (adoption of Web 2.0 technologies) within its
real-life context (governance); especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and
context were not clearly evident (Yin, 2003). The second stage began looking at
government actors. Three politicians were identified as case subjects in order to examine
e-Participation for the viewpoint of government. Additionally, interviews were conducted
with key ICT executives as well as leading academics in the field of ICTs for
development in the Philippines. Based on the qualitative research findings from stage one
and the beginning of stage two, a test survey was carried-out in order to substantiate the
capability set which influences citizen’s ability to benefit from e-Participation in the
governance process. The questionnaire/survey was administered randomly to 29 citizens
living in the two major metro regions of the Philippines, Manila and Cebu; additionally
interviews were conducted with the participants of the surveys. Based on the findings
from stage two, a final revised questionnaire/survey was conducted in stage three. In total,
four-hundred and sixty-six questionnaire/surveys were carried-out, which included 144
hours of interviews. The final stage also brought to close 3 years of ethnographic research
on the three case subjects. It was determined in stage one that Facebook would be the
sole Web 2.0 application documented due to its widespread popularity and active use by
all three politicians.14 In total, 3,918 posts and 19,998 comments were reviewed. The
final component of data collection in stage three was a set of six round table discussions
on e-Participation held at UP Diliman and Ateneo de Manila University. The results of
this data collection will be disseminated in the next two sections.
Identifying the Capability Set
Web 2.0 technologies have to potential to change the ‘rules of the game’ and
providing citizens with tools necessary to influence governance. Moreover, governments
and their actors can uses e-Participation to strengthen the state and deepen democracy. In
order for this to take place, certain conditions need to be fostered. Based on the finding
14 Social networking among Filipinos is the highest out of any country in the Asia Pacific markets with 84.9% of web users using Facebook. Retrieved on October 4, 2013 from: http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press_Releases/2010/4/Social_Networking_Across_Asia-Pacific_Markets.
13
from this research a core set of capabilities were identified. Table 2 presents the five
normative capabilities as well as their subsequent descriptions. It should be noted that this
is by no means an exhaustive list nor is any one capability more important than another.
Bear in mind, the argument being made is that the priority for improving e-Participation
through policy is utility, not necessarily a core set of capabilities. Nevertheless, in order
to examine the factors affecting citizen’s ability to find value through e-Participation, this
approach is essential.
Table 2: Capability Set for E-Participation
Capability Description of Capability
Access Being able to access modern ICTs; utilize public services;
and, have low barriers to entry.
Expression
Being able to speak freely; have the technical literacy to
participate in the governance process; and, voice an opinion
without the fear of retribution.
Equality
Being able to access the same information as everyone else;
have equal opportunities to access services; and, be free of
discriminatory behaviors.
Knowledge Acquisition
Being able to access relevant information; information that
has not been manipulated; and, through a medium that is
understandable.
Affiliation Being able to interact socially and have the freedom to
assemble.
The first of the capabilities is ‘access.’ Access refers to the ability of citizens to utilize
ICTs to interact with government. These include computers, laptops, smart phones and
other communication devices. Included in this, are the fees associated with connecting to
a digital network and/or access to public networks such as TV White Space or Tech4Ed
centers in the Philippines. Additionally, access is defined as the capability of citizens to
use e-Government services provided by the local government. The next capability
14
‘expression,’ overlaps with Martha Nussbaum’s core capability of ‘control over one's
environment,’ which highlights the need to be able to speak freely and exercise one’s
political choice (Nussbaum, 2011). Incorporated into this is the technical literacy to
participation in the governance process through Web2.0 technologies. The third
capability is ‘equality.’ Equality means having the same opportunity to access
information as every other person; not only information, but also services. It means to be
free of discriminatory behavior by government, citizens and third party providers such as
Web2.0 platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or communications service provider
such as Globe and Smart in the Philippines. This brings us to ‘knowledge acquisition.’
Knowledge Acquisition means being able to access information that is relevant to the
person looking for it. While the information does not necessarily need to be accurate, it
does need to be un-manipulated. Moreover, it should be in a format that is understandable
to the user. One of the main criticisms derived from stage one and two of this study was
that e-Government content is only in English, which for a country with two official
languages and eight major dialects poses a significant barrier to knowledge acquisition.
The final capability, which is also one of Nussbaum’s core capabilities, introduced in her
book Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach is ‘affiliation.’
Affiliation is the capability to interact socially and have the freedom to assemble.
Affiliation overlaps with many of Nussbaum’s core capabilities, it is also the most
difficult capability to quantify. Within this paper the construct of affiliation will be
measured in terms of social arrangements and political ties.
To generate and substantiate the capability set within the framework of this study, a
mixed method approach was taken to identify the valued functionings which lead to e-
Participation. The next two sections examine these functionings, while providing
evidence to support the theory.
Qualitative Findings
This study used a semi-inductive approach to arrive at the capabilities set
introduced in Table 2. As with traditional inductive models that use a ‘bottom-up’
15
approach, this study, uses both inductive and deductive reasoning by first examining the
field of e-Participation to identify factors for study and then uses inductive inference to
determine if these factors have an influence on e-Participation within the Philippine
context. The multidimensional components of e-Participation were each examined to gain
a broad generalization of the situation in the Philippines in order to identify patterns and
understand the capabilities needed to participate in the governance process through
technology. In doing so a theoretical model could be created that will allow practitioners
and policy makers to better understand the empowerment loop and the capability set that
influences e-Participation by citizens in the Philippines.
E-Government
E-Government crosses two components, technology and government. These components
were studied by looking at two national programs, TV White Space and Tech4ed as well
as e-Government applications at the local level. At the local level the City of Cebu was
selected as a case study. The City of Cebu was selected as a case study site after winning
the e-Governance Award for utilizing ICT in the delivery of public services. This annual
award is named after the honorable Jesse Robredo and is given to the Local Government
Unit (LGU) that best exemplifying good governance through ICT.
The two national programs TV White Space and Tech4ed are programs born out of the
government’s E-Government Master Plan, which is part of the Philippine Digital Strategy
2011-2016. TV White Space is the government’s effort to reduce the ‘digital divide’ by
enhancing internet accessibility for all Filipinos. This is being done by repurposing
portions of frequency (wireless spectrum) previously allocated for broadcast television.15
Once fully implemented, this service will provide low-cost and in some cases free wifi to
citizens throughout the country. After conducting interviews with key Project Officers
working on this program and testing connectivity at one of the test sites, it has been
concluded that, for now, TV White Space will have little affect on ‘access’ in the near
15 TV White Space refers to the vacant frequencies located between broadcast TV channels in the UHF and VHF range between 54 MHz and 806 MHz.
16
future. This is because deployment is being slowed by policies that protect the
government but do not provide incentives to private sector communication providers. The
communication providers have to invest substantial amounts of money into information
and communication infrastructure (ICI) with little guarantees that their contracts will be
renewed past their initial year. Additionally, unlike traditional broadband fiber optic
services, TV White Space is built on a platform that can not provide ‘high-speed’ internet.
Tests conducted in Quezon City revealed low data throughput in the range of 0 to 2Mbps,
while personnel working on the project say 6Mbps is possible. To put this in perspective,
broadband services from Globe and Smart reach download speeds as high as 30Mbps.16
The second project, Tech4ED is an award winning project, which won the 2016 World
Summit of Information Society (WSIS) prize in the eEmployment category. It has the
potential to influence capabilities across the capability set. The benefits of the project
include providing a platform for e-Participation, upgrading digital literacy and starting a
source of livelihood for citizens, just to name a few. While the business model for the
project is excellent, it highlights the importance of converting capabilities into valued
fuctionings and the need to focus on utility. The findings from the research show that a
large potion of Philippine society is shut-out from benefitting from this project. For
example, while visiting a Tech4ED center in Quezon City, only students were allowed to
use the computers. Moreover, all content is in English. As discussed earlier in this paper,
by providing services only in English ‘knowledge acquisition’ for non-English speaking
Filippinos becomes a tremendous barrier. This was echoed by students during the round
table discussions conducted at UP Diliman and Ateneo de Manila University.
The City of Cebu is promoting e-Participation through a number of offerings. The two
most impactful is the City’s website and the World Bank funded project, FixMyBuragay.
Unlike the politicians which were studied in this paper, the City has not effectively
utilized social media such as facebook.
16 This speed test was conducted in Mandaue City on 11/26/15.
17
The digital face of most government institutions is their website. Government websites
are often the platform on which citizens communication with government actors. As of
2016, all members of the United Nations now have a web presence (UNPAN, 2015). The
industry standard for measuring the effectiveness of a website is called the bounce rate.
The bounce rate is a formula that determines the effectiveness of a website in keeping
visitors engaged and is often used as an indicator of a site’s relevance and ability to
generate interest (Farris et al, 2010).17 In the case of the City of Cebu, the overall bounce
rate was 57.72%. A score of 50% is average; anything above 60% is considered
problematic.18 Under these conditions, the City of Cebu’s website is considered to be
effective. Table 3 shows a breakdown of site traffic.
Table 3: City of Cebu Location, Duration, and Bounce Rate Statistics
Visits % New Visits
New Visits Bounce
Rate Pages / Visit
Avg. Visit Duration
Philippines 472,939 76.4% 361,206 57.2% 2.84 0:02:57
Source: City of Cebu, note: The raw data was pulled off the web server using Google Analytics but was compiled by the Author
While the city’s website is effective, the only page that promotes citizen participation is
the ‘Bids and Awards’ page. The bounce rate for this page is 35.50%, which is
considered highly effective based on industry standards. This web page invites
manufacturers, suppliers, dealers and distributors to bid on contracts. It provides search
filters to query the backend database, downloadable documents, and records the number
of hits per article title. Additionally, the service lists the author of the bid and the officials
involved in the bidding process. So in addition to being reliable, it is also transparent. As
17 The formula is as follows: Rb = Bounce Rate (%); Tv = Visits that access only a single page (#); Ve = Total entry (#) to the website, where Rb is the percent of Tv/Ve. 18 Based on the article How to Reduce Your Website’s Bounce Rate. Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/guides/2011/01/how-to-reduce-your-website-bounce-rate.html on July 4, 2016.
18
a G2C platform for promoting e-Participation, the city’s website ‘as a whole’ is not
effective. Moreover, the Bulletin Broad System (BBS) managed by the outgoing
administration was taken down due to negative feedback from citizens. This reinforces
the viewpoint that governments control over information can easily be manipulated by
government actors.
The second application, FixMyBrangay is an idealized example of using Web 2.0
technologies to promote e-Participation. FixMyBarangay is a project jointly funded by
the World Bank, which allows local citizens to report local issues to the City of Cebu.
The project is unique, in that it employs SMS technology to submit request to the city and
report updates back to the citizen. The city also uses a mash-up to plot the requests on a
map using Open Source Map. Table 4 illustrates the steps it takes to resolve an issue like
a pothole or broken streetlight under the traditional route and using the City’s e-
Participatory service.
19
Table 4: FixMyBuragay Request for Service
Traditional Route Time
(in days) FixMyBrangay
Time
(in days)
Citizen uses the City’s website
to file a complaint either
through email or by calling-in 0
Citizen submits a report through
the City’s website or via text
message and an incident number is
created
0
The complaint gets passed to
the proper person and is logged
into the logbook
1 ~ 28* Brangay Captain is contacted to do
a physical inspection of the issue 1 ~ 2
Brangay Captain is contacted to
do a physical inspection of the
issue 1 ~ 2
Depending on inventory, the
Department of Engineering and
Public Works is sent to fix the
issue
2 ~ 3
Depending on inventory, the
Department of Engineering and
Public Works is sent to fix the
issue
1 ~ 2
Citizens are able to receive
updates and can inquire about the
request for service
Total Days 30+ 3 ~ 5
Source: Author Note: the data was collected through two separate interviews with the MISC and CITOM departments * In some cases the requests get misplaced and go unresolved.
As Table 4 shows, the problem the city has with responding to service requests is in the
logging process. Once a request gets logged, there is no accountability and unless the
request gets logged, there is no way for the citizen to know what happened. This reduces
the trust citizens have in their local government. By taking advantage of Web 2.0
technologies, all records are accessible via the web, which improves transparency.
20
Additionally, the service request fulfillments, and the time it takes to process a request,
are logged in the system. Moreover, the speed at which the service requests are fulfilled
count on staff performance records, which are appraised every six months. While this
project looks very good on paper and has shown great promise in Europe, it has failed to
meet expectations at the City of Cebu. An investigation reviled that while the back-end
technical side of the project was working exceptionally well, as Table 4 indicates; the
problem is with the work-flow between departments. Of the 43 service request recorded,
none of the requests have been completed. Also an assessment has not been done and the
World Bank has already pulled out of the project. This was most likely due to the fact
that the project team from MISC were all let go of when the previous mayor took office.
In order for e-Participation to have value to citizens, the capacity of the local
governments to manage the technologies on their side is an important component, in
promoting participator governance.
Government Actors
Ethnographic observation was used to study the political careers of three local politicians
during their three year terms that ended in June of 2016. Two of the politicians were city
councilors for the City of Cebu and one is the current Mayor of Tagbilaran City. Unlike
the City of Cebu, which focuses its interaction with citizens through its website, all three
case subjects preferred to use facebook as a means of interacting with their constituents.
By examining e-Particiaption between the politicians and citizens, patterns could be
established to provide guidance in identifying and substantiating the capability set that
was introduced in Table 2.
21
Baba Yap
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
6/30
/201
3
7/16
/201
3
7/27
/201
3
8/5/
2013
8/29
/201
3
9/29
/201
3
10/1
3/20
13
11/1
0/20
13
12/1
9/20
13
1/4/
2014
1/26
/201
4
2/17
/201
4
3/23
/201
4
3/31
/201
4
4/11
/201
4
4/24
/201
4
5/5/
2014
5/25
/201
4
6/13
/201
4
6/30
/201
4
7/12
/201
4
8/5/
2014
9/1/
2014
9/16
/201
4
10/1
6/20
14
11/1
3/20
14
12/1
3/20
14
1/5/
2015
1/26
/201
5
2/21
/201
5
3/11
/201
5
3/29
/201
5
4/13
/201
5
4/27
/201
5
5/10
/201
5
5/30
/201
5
6/12
/201
5
6/29
/201
5
7/14
/201
5
7/26
/201
5
8/7/
2015
8/21
/201
5
9/6/
2015
9/15
/201
5
9/28
/201
5
10/1
1/20
15
10/2
6/20
15
11/1
3/20
15
12/3
/201
5
12/1
3/20
15
12/2
2/20
15
1/20
/201
6
2/22
/201
6
3/11
/201
6
4/4/
2016
4/19
/201
6
4/29
/201
6
5/13
/201
6
5/30
/201
6
6/12
/201
6
6/21
/201
6
Likes Comments Shares
As is the case with many politicians, their time is limited and their ability to directly
communicate with citizens or hear there concerns can be challenging. To identify the
valued functionings that can lead to utility, both intrinsic and instrumental, a two pronged
approach was taken. The first was direct interviews with the politicians and/or there staff,
while observing traditional forms of interaction such as office visits, political rallies,
pulongpulong (public meetings), policy meetings, city council meetings, and direct
observation of their daily activities. The second was to document interactions conducted
through social media, specifically Facebook. What was found is that both methods were
often used. In fact, all three politicians used social media as a tool to enhance their public
service efforts. Both formal and informal channels were observed.
Over a three year period, a plethora of data was collected on each politician. Facebook
was selected as the social media tool of choice by each politician. A review of all posts,
comments, shared posts and ‘likes’ were recorded. Figures 5~7 show a breakdown of the
records for each politician.
Figure 5: Mayor Baba Yap
Source author
2
2
Figu
re 6: C
oun
cilor N
ida C
abrera
Nid
a Cab
rera
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
6/29/2013
7/19/2013
8/5/2013
9/8/2013
10/7/2013
10/19/2013
11/18/2013
1/8/2014
2/2/2014
2/18/2014
2/28/2014
3/10/2014
4/4/2014
4/21/2014
5/21/2014
6/4/2014
6/21/2014
6/28/2014
7/15/2014
7/24/2014
8/18/2014
9/12/2014
10/6/2014
10/26/2014
11/20/2014
12/26/2014
2/14/2015
2/27/2015
3/11/2015
3/21/2015
3/29/2015
4/8/2015
4/18/2015
4/23/2015
5/6/2015
5/25/2015
5/29/2015
7/2/2015
7/13/2015
7/25/2015
8/1/2015
8/24/2015
9/7/2015
9/15/2015
10/13/2015
10/25/2015
11/5/2015
11/17/2015
11/29/2015
12/21/2015
1/9/2016
1/22/2016
1/30/2016
2/6/2016
2/18/2016
2/25/2016
3/5/2016
3/10/2016
3/20/2016
3/31/2016
4/8/2016
4/17/2016
4/26/2016
5/4/2016
5/18/2016
6/10/2016
6/26/2016
Likes
Co
mm
ents
Sha
res
Sou
rce auth
or
Figu
re 7: C
oun
cilor B
ob C
abarru
bias
Bo
b C
abarru
bias
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
6/29/2013
7/22/2013
7/27/2013
7/30/2013
8/22/2013
10/7/2013
11/8/2013
12/10/2013
1/5/2014
1/17/2014
2/8/2014
2/20/2014
3/6/2014
3/9/2014
3/21/2014
3/31/2014
4/10/2014
4/21/2014
4/26/2014
5/6/2014
5/18/2014
5/29/2014
6/4/2014
6/5/2014
6/13/2014
6/22/2014
6/25/2014
6/29/2014
7/2/2014
7/3/2014
7/13/2014
7/21/2014
7/25/2014
7/29/2014
8/7/2014
8/15/2014
8/28/2014
9/4/2014
9/9/2014
9/25/2014
10/10/2014
10/23/2014
10/28/2014
11/1/2014
11/9/2014
11/18/2014
11/26/2014
12/3/2014
12/6/2014
12/16/2014
12/20/2014
12/24/2014
1/5/2015
1/15/2015
1/23/2015
2/2/2015
2/6/2015
2/14/2015
2/23/2015
2/27/2015
3/9/2015
3/13/2015
3/20/2015
3/26/2015
4/9/2015
6/14/2015
6/21/2015
6/28/2015
7/8/2015
7/15/2015
7/23/2015
8/2/2015
8/18/2015
9/16/2015
10/9/2015
11/4/2015
1/24/2016
2/24/2016
4/6/2016
4/24/2016
5/1/2016
LikesC
omm
entsS
hares
Sou
rce auth
or
Each
of th
e politician
s used so
cial media in
differ
ent wa
ys. Ma
yor Baba Y
ap received
a
tremen
dou
s amou
nt o
f com
ments and
shares arou
nd th
e tim
e of the B
oho
l earthq
uake and
subseq
uent typ
hoo
n Y
oland
a.1
9 Th
e City o
f Ta
gbilaran
is the largest city on
the island
of
19 T
here w
ere 3.8
1 mo
re com
men
ts on avera
ge and
56.9
8 m
ore shares. T
his n
um
ber is even
mo
re m
eaningfu
l given the fact th
at man
y citizens w
ere with
out p
ower an
d/or Intern
et service.
23
Bohol and is also its capital. During the earthquake the City’s website and all its servers
went down; however, since Facebook is a third party platform, it continued to function.
Mayor Yap was able to interact with citizens providing them with incident reports, where
to find relief goods, power updates, class suspensions and advisories, as well as ‘hotline’
information for contacting public safety services. While early in his term, feedback was
limited, later on; he assigned staff to provide feedback to citizens via his Facebook
account. Other successful examples include working with citizens on legislation such as
Republic Act 9994 related to senior citizens. Additional uses included updates on road
repairs and power outages as well as public appreciation for honesty, such as the Tricycle
drivers that would return forgotten property. Mayor Yap’s most successfully use of social
media is offering prize money for citizens that can guess the outcome of NBA playoff
games.20 In some ways this reinforces the old patron-client relationship, but from
speaking with local citizens, none of them felt they were in a ‘client’ position. Councilor
Cabrera balanced her traditional political interactions with her social media interactions,
often using Facebook as a way to promote her environmental agenda as Environmental
committee Chairperson. Unlike Mayor Yap’s who uses a ‘Public Figure’ Facebook page,
Councilor Cabrera uses a personal account. As a ‘regular’ Facebook user, her government
work is sometimes overshadowed by her personal posts. Additionally, her wall becomes a
sounding board for other politicians and environmentally conscious NGOs such as the
Coastline Management Board (CMB). She generated e-Participation with citizens by
providing them with information regarding proposed ordinances whereby fostering e-
Democracy. Additionally she posts information regarding public hearings as well as
livelihood training to improve the daily lives of her constituents. She equally would take
the time to meet with citizens in-person or at functions organized by the city and her
political party. Councilor Bob Cabarrubias linked social media platforms together such
as Skype, YouTub and Facebook. All City Council sessions were streamed live via Skype,
which could be accessed from his Facebook page. Citizens could quickly interact with
him and he often responded to inquires in-person. Similar to Councilor Cabrera,
Councilor Cabarrubias used Facebook as a portal to introduce ordinances and provide
20 Success was measured by taking the average like, comment and share for any given post and comparing it to the post being referenced. The average post receives 158.6 likes, 9.3 comments and 13.5 shares. Mayor Yap’s largest NBA prize post received 2,375 likes, 3,281 comments and 2,570 shares.
24
information on training. Additionally, he would provide information on job opportunities.
It was also common practice for Courcilor Cabarrubias to post photos and information
regarding citizens that would visit his office. Unlike the national government which only
operates in English, all politicians studied used Cebuano (Visayan) interchangeable when
communicating with citizens. They understood how to utilize social media as a tool to
promote e-Participation.
Citizens Perspective
To understand the perspective of citizens as it relates to the conditions affecting their
interest in participating in the governance process, round table discussions and random
interviews were conducted. The responses from citizens in the early stages were reflected
in the questionnaire/survey.
Five key points were taken from the 6 round table discussions. The first is that Internet
access is expensive and slow. While this is an important factor, no one said Internet
service is not available, which is an import point to take note of. The gap between the
haves and have-nots has shrunk substantially. It was not long ago when the dominate
discourse related to e-Governance was connectivity and the ‘digital divide’ (Huffman,
2002). The second point taken from the discussion is that students found no value in
accessing government websites except for research. The majority of students had never
accessed their local government websites, but for the ones that did, they found the site to
be static and difficult to navigate. Third, the overall feeling towards government is that it
is corrupt. Not necessarily any one politician, but taken as a whole character plays an
important role. The forth point taken from the discussions is that the content being
provided on government websites is only in English. The feeling is that government
needs to cater more to the needs of the local citizen. The fifth and final point was that
allocation of government resources should be used for other social services. While
students did understand the intrinsic value of participating in the governance process,
such as feeling empowered and having their voices heard, they did not see the
instrumental value. Nevertheless, their interest in promoting e-Governance is a good
25
starting point for development. While for many students the topic of e-Governance was
something new, they rightly identified many of the barriers affecting citizens
participation and were enthusiastic about engaging in governance process.
When interviewing citizens at random, about participation in the governance process,
responses varied. Trust was a reoccurring theme. Trust in government and trust in the
technology. Especially in the rural areas like Bohol, citizens rather visit government
offices than interact with government agents through the Internet. In 17 cases, the citizen
being interviewed had no idea there was a local government website. Of the ones that did,
only 4 citizens had positive comments such as it makes things easier, convenient and
hassle free; it’s effective; and it’s important for accessing all e-Government services. As
for e-Participation, the responses were more positive. Citizens felt they could use ICTs to
exercise their right to be heard; to expand their network; to find work; to gain information
about their government; and to share their concerns with other like minded people. The
most heated subject centered on the power relationship between citizens and government
actors. Some citizens felt that politicians are only visible or accessible to people during
campaigns and “become invisible after they win the election.” However, the research
showed that Mayor Yap and Councilor Cabrera’s posting patterns did not deviate from
the norm between the time of ‘filing’ until the election results were announced. Still
others felt politicians can still control the information released and while the people can
easily express their views, they sometimes do so “under threat;” moreover, e-
Participation can have the reverse effect, “politicians use ICT to gain fame and have the
citizen patronize them.” Other citizens saw no change or that their problems never change,
“the only difference is we have technology”; “although the people have more information
and easier access to those information, politicians are still unshakeable with their power;”
for these people the value of participating in the governance process is “still what it is
after the social media started becoming active.” However, the majority of citizens see the
power relationship shifting towards the citizen. This will be validated in the quantitative
results introduced in the next section. For most Filipinos e-Participation has changed the
balance of power. “The people, especially the youth, have become more exposed to the
happenings in government through ICTs. They have also been more vocal online on their
26
opinions regarding the government as compared to 10 years ago”; a pattern is starting to
develop, citizens have more power because they can “point out the flaws of the
government” using social media; moreover, “people acquire the power to express
themselves because of this, “the voice of the people cannot easily be ignored.” One of the
most absorbing comments came from a young male from the Calabarzon/Mimaropa
region who said “social media has become the modern EDSA for people to protest for or
against something or someone;” or put simply, “the masses uses social media therefore,
more people are able to see opinions and in turn, change other people’s opinions.” Never
was this more evident than during the so-called Million People March, which aimed to
abolish the Priority Development Assistance (PDA) Fund or more commonly referred to
as the Pork Barrel fund. On August 26, 2013, Filipinos and other concerned citizens
gathered in Luneta Park in Metro Manila and other venues across the world to protest the
corrupt behavior of Pork Barreling by the politicians. This protest that was organized
through social media was able to overturn the PDA Fund when the courts finally declared
the fund to be unconstitutional.
A young lady from Metro Manila, was able to sum up the overall feelings of citizens
when she said, “because the government is ruled by officials who are easily
corrupt…people in the online world or netizens get to express freely their thoughts about
politicians and the like…more people are voicing out their concerns, disappointments and
such to the politicians...it's easier to have your voice heard…therefore allowing a more
transparent, participative, and democratic society.”
The findings from stage one and two of the qualitative research, along with the sample
survey are reflected in the questionnaire/survey. The next section introduces those results,
tying-in the methodologies to corroborate the capability set and fuctionings that create
value to citizens. The results of these findings will be used to validate the theoretical
model presented in the final section of this paper.
27
Quantitative Analysis and Results
In total, 466 questionnaire/surveys were carried out.21 Best efforts were made to obtain a
random sample. Sampling took place in shopping centers, on the street, in informal
settlements, inside Cebu City Hall, at Quzeon City’s voter registration center, on
university campuses and around small villages in the Bohol region. The results for some
questions were stratified because it is important to understand citizen’s e-Participation
habits across gender and socioeconomic groupings (Lehtonen, 2007). Moreover, stratified
sampling overcomes the limitations of trying to obtaining a purely random sample. Of the
466 Filipinos surveyed, 249 were female and 217 were male. The age of respondents
totaled 275 between the ages of 15~21; 115 between 22~34; 64 between 35~54; and 12
respondents were over the age of 55. Of the 14 regions that make-up the Philippines,
which includes the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) only regions 11
was not represented.22 The classification of citizens by income was reasonably distributed
with 27% coming from Class E, 31% coming from Class D; 29% coming from Class C;
and 13% coming from the upper class, Class A&B.23
While the central government has made substantial efforts to improve ICI and service,
9% of Filipinos surveyed still do not have access to Internet service where they live.
Moreover the cost of Internet Service is still perceived as being high as indicated in
Figure 8. A key component to e-Participation is the ability for citizens to access and use
Internet Services. Although not every citizen has direct access to the Internet, there are
many 3rd party options besides government funded services – many ‘cyber cafés’ offer
Internet access for as little as 5 php. While interviewing a young pregnant woman from
Cebu, she was asked how she met her partner. She said she found him through facebook
at a cyber café. Even though she was homeless, she had the capability to access Web 2.0
technologies without substantial barriers to entry. 21 Based on a population of 100,998,376, a sample size of 466 can guarantee a margin of error between 4~5% with a 95% confidence level, which is within research standards for the social sciences. A sample size calculator from surveysystem.com was used to determine this number. 22 It should be noted that two citizens were interviewed that came from region 11, so viewpoints from all regions are represented in this paper. 23 Income level by class: Class E 0~5200php; Class D 5201~1600php; Class C 16001~50000php; Class A&B 50001~150000php.
28
Figure 8: Cost of Internet Service
Cost of Internet Service
0 50 100 150 200
Very expensive
Expensive
Average
Not expensive
Cheap
Number of Respondents 76 170 184 19 1
Very expensive Expensive Average Not expensive Cheap
It is evident from interviewing citizens that e-Participation is not their main reason for
accessing the Internet. This is especially true in the rural areas and with citizens that have
less formal education. For example, a middle aged tricycle driver from Bohal said that
while he is interested in politics, he is not interested in e-Participation. For him,
politicians are “like royalty and can not be touched.” He felt that if he is happy and can
enjoy watching basketball with his friends, then “life is good enough;” he has no reason
to use ICTs to interact with government. However, for citizens that do want to obtain
information from the local government, the most preferred method is the Internet. Figure
9 breaks-down the preferences of Filipinos wishing to access information on their local
government.
29
Figure 9: Preferred way to Obtain Information on Local Government
Preferred way to Obtain Information on Local Government
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Re
spo
nd
en
ts
Access Point 75 15 20 5 49 4 111 24
Visit City HallMake a phone
callNewspaper Radio TV
Text with
Friends/Family
Website/Social
Media
Talk with
Friend/Family
While social media and the web is the clear choice for obtaining information, the
traditional path of visiting City Hall is still a strong option. In order to determine why
citizens did not use e-Government services a regression was run to determine the barriers
preventing citizens from converting ‘fuctionings’ into value. Table 5 shows those results.
Table 5: Barriers to Interacting with Local Government through ICTs
Factors Estimate Std. Error t value Pr(>|t|)
Not Interested -0.58734 0.03752 -15.655 < 2e-16 ***
To Difficult -0.07520 0.07839 -0.959 0.337993
No Access -0.47280 0.05137 -9.204 < 2e-16 ***
Do Not Trust Government 0.09804 0.07486 1.310 0.191091
Inconvenient -0.05953 0.06294 -0.946 0.344806
Government is Ineffective -0.16777 0.06300 -2.663 0.008049 **
Not Time -0.19740 0.05163 -3.824 0.000152 ***
Do Not Expect a Response -0.20482 0.05152 -3.976 8.29e-05 ***
Signif. codes: 0 ‘***’ 0.001 ‘**’ 0.01 ‘*’ 0.05 ‘.’ 0.1 ‘ ’ 1
30
Based on these findings access still remains a barrier; however technical literacy is not.
Additionally, trust was not seen as a barrier, even though findings from the interviews
suggest that trust is a influencing factor in e-Participation. Where trust plays an important
role is in the preferred characteristics of local politicians. Figure 10 summarizes the
findings
Figure 10: Preferred Characteristics of Local Politicians
Preferred Characteristics of Local Politicians
Honesty/Trust, 162,
40%
Generosity, 7, 2%
Accessibility, 14, 4%
Integrity, 95, 24%
Charisma, 0, 0%
Reliability, 119, 30%
A component of this research included looking at e-Participations as it relates to the 2016
General Election. A key element of e-Participation is E-Democracy. When looking at the
preferred characteristics of local politicians, trust, honesty, reliability and integrity are
dominate values. A noteworthy finding is that only 2% of citizens felt generosity was and
important factor, reveling that the patron client-relationship may be a thing of the past;
this falls in-line with the findings concluded from the qualitative results. An additional
regression was run to see if there was a correlation between valuing generosity and
income, but there was no correlation – Class D citizens represented the largest majority,
which only amounted to 3 citizens. In addition to characteristics, citizens were asked for
31
their criteria when voting for their local politicians. The top six choices from the test
survey were provided as options. Figure 11 illustrates the distribution.
Figure 11: Criteria When Voting for Local Politicians
Criteria When Voting for Local Politicians
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Personally being helped
Improving social welfare
Improving the local economy
Improving transportation
Improving ICT services
Having your opinions heard
This question was asked in reference to another question regarding the reason for not
using social media to write about politics. The popular response to that question was that
citizens found posting their option would be useless; however, as a criterion for voting
for a politician, “improving the local economy” far outpaces “having your opinions
heard.” Figure 12 presents the results from the aforementioned question.
32
Figure 12: Reasons for Not Using Social Media for E-Democracy
Reasons for Not Using Social Media to
Writing About Politics I am afraid to
write my
opinion, 9, 16%
I think it would
be useless to
post my
opinion, 36,
63%
I am not
interested in
politics, 12,
21%
While 153 participants did use social media to discuss politics, out of the ones that did
not, 63% felt there was no value in posting their opinion. Findings from the qualitative
research show that from the perspective on the politicians, citizen’s posts do get
consideration. Over the 3 year period of documenting e-Participation habits of the 3 case
subjects, two out of the three politicians often took the time to respond to posts, while the
third, Mayor Yap recently assigned a person to provide feedback. Still, the preferred
option for interacting with local politicians is to visit their office; yet e-Participation
methods are gaining traction. Figure 13 shows the distribution of preference.
33
Figure 13: Citizens Choice for Interacting with Local Politicians
Citizens Choice for Interacting with Local
Politicians
Go to their office,
138, 37%
Call their office, 58,
16%
Text Message, 13,
3%
Some other way, 37,
10%
Website or
Facebook, 104, 28%
No reason to talk to
them, 22, 6%
At Cebu City Hall when interviewing citizens about their preference to meet their local
politicians in person, most stated that they prefer face-to-face contact even if it meant
taking time off work. A small number of citizens were not aware that e-Government
services were an option. When surveyed about the value of e-Participation citizens
viewed better governance as the major motivating factor. While there was no difference
between men and women, there was a strong correlation between higher income and
having more transparency.24 Figure 14 looks at the motivating factors for converting
capabilities into valued functionings.
24 Pr(>|t|) of 0.0056 **
34
Figure 14: Value of e-Participation
Value of e-Particiaption
Empowerment, 143, 10%
Inclusion, 135, 9%
More Transparent, 212, 14%
Save Money, 128, 9%
Save Time, 163, 11%Better Goverance, 236, 16%
Respect, 98, 7%
Having Your Voice Heard, 218, 15%
Accountablitiy, 135, 9%
In addition to better governance, having your voice heard is a highly valued factor for
participating in e-Governance. So while, citizens feel their opinions do not matter and
that politicians do not listen to them; they also believe e-Particpation will give them a
voice in the governance process.
As this research has shown, having a voice is a valued functioning that relates to two
capabilities, expression and affiliation. It also has an affect on the power relations
between citizen and politician. Citizens perceive social media as a tool to ‘level the
playing field.’ Figure 15 highlights this fact.
35
Figure 15: Social Media’s Affect on the Power Relations
Social Media's Affect on the Power Relations
Between Citizens and Politicians
No Change, 77,
18%
More power to
the politicians,
70, 16%
More power to
the people, 280,
66%
The results of the quantitative data hold true to the results of the qualitative interviews
that social media is changing the rules of the game and leveling the playing field for
citizens. Regressions were run to see if income or gender had any bearing on the results,
but no linkages could be found.
The final finding this paper would like to introduce pertains to the source of news
information. With the exception of television, online news and more specifically
Facebook news is now dominating citizen’s headlines. Figure 16 shows a breakdown of
where citizens go for information.
36
Figure 16: News Sources
News Source
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Newspapers
Blogs
Facebook Newsfeed
TV
Radio
Online News
Preferrence 25 4 74 114 10 91
Newspapers BlogsFacebook
NewsfeedTV Radio Online News
This paradigm shift in the way citizens access information has not been lost on the
politicians. Politicians understand the importance of meeting the citizens where they
congregate, and where they are currently congregating is on Facebook. Moreover, Mayor
Yap and Councilor Cabrera were able to move forward with their political agendas in a
way that supported their parties and promoted their campaigns – allowing voters to
engage them throughout the democratic process. Although Councilor Cabrera was
defeated in the General Election she effectively used social media to draw attention to the
negative-side of the electoral politics by providing evidence of vote buying by one of the
rival political parties. It should be noted that unlike traditional news media, the validity of
stories being ‘broke’ through social media is completely at the discretion of the reporter.
How the findings from this paper affect the capabilities of citizens to achieve value
through e-Participation will be discussed in the final section.
37
Conclusion and Policy Recommendations
Overall, e-Participation has had a positive influence on governance; however, the
value of e-Participation on the everyday lives of citizens has not yet been realized.
Furthermore, government actors, still have control of the information, but that control is
slowly shifting towards the masses. The barriers to e-Participation still influence the
capabilities of citizens to achieve value from the governance process, which has slowed
the information and resource cycle. By creating a model to assist policy makers and
practitioners understand the needs of the citizens, through identifying a core set of
capabilities, may alter the traditional resource driven approach of e-Governance to one
that focuses further on what citizens have reason to value. All is not lost though;
investments in e-Government services and infrastructure have expanded the choices of
citizens hoping to participate in the governance process. Additionally, the uprising
intellectual class is putting pressure on the Philippine government to reform old habits
and streamline ICT services.
Through the three stages of research a core set of capabilities emerged. Figure 17
summarizes the theoretical model that shifts the focus from resources to utility. This
demand-driven approach for appraising e-Participation within the governance process
will hopefully provide a framework for practitioners looking to improve e-Governance at
the local level.
38
Figure 17: Capability Approach Model for E-Participation
The Capability Approach Model for E-Participation is separated into six segments. The
first, citizens represent the diverse set of actors regardless of age, income, gender or
education. The second segment is the ‘resource’ component. While this component is at
the heart of the Evolutionary E-Governance 2.0 Model presented in Figure 1, the findings
show that resources, while expanding the choices for participating in the governance
process, has little affect on the value citizens place on engaging with governments
through the use of technology. Moreover, e-Government services that do not meet the
needs of citizens have little influence in supporting their well-being. The third segment
lays down the foundation for policy makers and practitioners to consider when devising
e-Government initiatives. As the research showed, while not all ‘fuctionings’ hold value
to each individual, the core set of capabilities are fundamental to all people regardless of
age, gender or socioeconomic status. The forth segment introduces the final distinctive
sphere presented in Figure 4: Multidimensional Components. Government and its actors
play an important role as facilitator and/or obstructer in the governance process. While
there were no identifiable correlations between formal and informal channels,
government actors play an important role in helping citizens convert capabilities into
valued functionings. The use or misuse of information can directly impact citizens’ well-
being. Moreover, unless citizens know, and can comprehend, what the benefits are of
Capability Set Access Expression Equality Knowledge Acquisition Affiliation
Citizens
Government & Government Actors
Intrinsic and Instrumental Value for Citizens
Information & Communication Technologies(ICT) Information & Communication Infrastructure (ICI) E-Government Services
Conversion Process
Empowerment Loop
Governance Process
39
participating in e-Government programs and services, when the empowerment loop will
break down. The fifth segment recognizes the barriers as well as freedoms which citizens
are afforded, many of which were discussed in the earlier sections. The conversion
process itself is meant to serve as a method for obtaining utility, both intrinsic and
instrumental because if utility can not be achieved, citizens will not participate in e-
Governance through e-Participation. The final segment is the one that needs to be focused
on, while citizens may have the capability to convert resources into utility and/or value,
without a clear motive for doing so, e-Participation will not take place.
The conditions affecting citizens’ real opportunities to achieve value through e-
Participation are now well documented within the context of the Philippines. Information
is moving that the speed of thought, while governments try to keep pace – the evolution
of technology has stimulated a revolution in e-Governance.
40
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