Monitoring what people say about 2013 Senator candidates

One tool I started using in the last elections was Netvibes. Created a dashboard then tracking what people say about various presidential candidates.

http://www.netvibes.com/janettetoral#2013_Elections

Two weeks ago, I updated the tool and began monitoring the tweets citing various Senator candidates for the 2013 elections. Will gradually set up independent tracking pages for each of them as the days go by.

However, monitoring what is being said today on these political personalities, I can't help but notice the following:

1. Most tweets about Chiz Escudero were all about sightings of him being with Heart Evangelista
2. Loren Legarda tweets were mostly sound bites from statements she has issued.
3. Alan Cayetano and Cynthia Villar are being attacked on their perspective on political dynasties. But actually, they are not alone with that one. If I recall correctly, even Chiz Escudero, Nancy Binay, Bam Aquino, Jack Enrile, and Sonny Angara sees nothing wrong with it.
4. Tweets about Jamby Madrigal includes funny side comments about what she says and does. Am not sure if she is being taken seriously at all.
5. Grace Poe is benefitting from the loving support of Susan Roces. I guess her recent stint as MTRCB head gave her some distinct positive relationship with television networks.
6. Nancy Binay and Bam Aquino are seen as coming out of nowhere political candidates. I guess being viewed in the same perspective as Jack Enrile.
7. With 2 Magsaysay running as Senators, Jun and Mitos, I wonder how will they be written in the ballot. Also, it seems Mitos is more active in campaigning and raised eyebrows with her "best congresswoman" bus advertisement. 
8. There are also candidates quiet at this time which results to hardly any mention of them in Twitter. This includes Jun Magsaysay and Antonio Trillianes.

With the individual dashboard set-up, I am sure there is more to be seen and shall update this post once they are up for proper linking and reference to parties interested in monitoring these candidates.

Will you vote for Senator Chiz Escudero for a 2nd term?

Google search results for Chiz Escudero

Last February 13, 2007, I was able to witness the online launch of Senator Chiz Escudero bid for the Senate in a Yehey chat session. Was excited then especially when my 2 questions were approved by the moderators.

Six years later, it is the election season again. Not surprisingly, Senator Chiz Escudero is on the top spot in surveys. And so I decided to kick off the reactivation of this blog with my reflection on Chiz.

One of the 2 questions I asked then is the primary legislation that he will work on. Of course, Senators file a lot of bills. But usually, during the 6-year stint, they will be able to work on one or two they will author and see it passed until the end. His answer was "guarantee accessibility of education to all Filipinos up to college and not only up to high school."

Am not sure whether he was able to achieve that.

To learn about what he has done, I ran a Google search and made the following observations:

Website has a virus
My first stop was his website (I won't link to it till am sure it doesn't have a virus anymore) but got immediately redirected to an error Bing page and my Sophos anti-virus giving a warning that it has downloaded a virus (that needs to be cleaned up manually). Fortunately, it is a Windows virus and am on Mac. Still figuring on how to find it - for it doesn't appear in normal file search.

Senate and Wikipedia page not updated
With the website down, I had to look for other resources online. His Senate and Wikipedia page doesn't have listing of bills he led, pushed for in the Senate, and passed in the last 6 years.

I hope Chiz can make time to have them updated for not being so gives the impression that he hasn't pushed for a single bill that he authored, presented in the plenary, and that became a law as a Senator.

The Heart Evangelista factor
I can't help but notice that Heart Evangelista stories shares the same page 1 exposure when you search for Chiz Escudero. Although some have a "kilig" factor on this one but its timing can also be perceived as a campaign gimmick.

But of course, it will be unfair to dismiss that the couple is not sincere with each other. Remember when Mar Roxas declared his love for Korina Sanchez? There was a lot of "kilig" factor to that one too but when they took their relationship to marriage at campaign time, it was seen to be politically motivated - which is also unfair for the couple.

Some may see the Chiz-Heart buzz as a strategy to take the focus away on negative issues that hounded the Senator in the past weeks such as the quality of work he has done as a legislator. I guess when you set up yourself differently - like someone to be relied upon to push for what the people needs and communicate that very well whenever he gets interviewed or gives a talk - legislation lapses doesn't sink in that easily especially when actions contradict each other.

Christine Elizabeth Flores
Of course, stories about him and ex-wife Christine still being "friends" appeared prominently too on search engine results. Although when you start dating someone in showbiz, your past life also becomes showbiz. Questions will be asked on the separation reasons. It is likely that both of them will have to answer that someday or let the rumor mill spread the word on the reasons they know about.

Black propaganda target?
Some note that Chiz will be a popular target for black propaganda. Although, I think even if he is called by so many names - worst I saw so far is a traitor, I doubt it will affect his chances of winning.

Activity and commitment

One question asked in the 2007 chat was, "Will he function less after being elected (like what most politicians have been)"

Chiz answered then saying something like "hopes his track record can speak for his activity and commitment after being elected."

Will you vote for Senator Chiz Escudero for a 2nd term?
So will I vote for Senator Chiz Escudero as a Senator for another term? Not sure yet. I guess till I know more about the past 6 years, I can't say for now. Unless of course I will just be contented with the impression - that he is a nice guy.

(Will be doing a follow-up post and feature other candidates too. Your insight and suggestions will be very much appreciated.)