PRESIDENT Estrada himself said that democracy is alive and well in the Philippines, and that he is not stopping the people from assembling to shout in one voice their desire for new leadership.

Although he believes that the masses are behind him and that hundreds of thousands of people chanting "Erap resign! Erap resign!" are merely paid actors to attend such rallies, Mr. Estrada-a former actor himself-has failed to notice the growth of websites joining the Filipino people in asking for him to step down. These are websites which could potentially reach hundreds of millions of people already wired to the Internet.

True, people with Internet access may not comprise Mr. Estrada's band of masa whom he claims are his followers by default, but neither are they part of the so-called peninsulares and insulares or kapitalistas who Mr. Estrada believes are all part of a grand conspiracy to "fool the masses" and oust him from the presidency. Computers and Internet access have not yet penetrated the countryside. And we're not even talking about electricity and telephone lines yet. However, as the digital divide continues to widen, so too, does the gap between the informed and the uninformed-people ripe for the picking in cases where political leaders wish to manipulate the minds of those whose aspirations are limited to getting a meal three times a day. Information is power, and those without it can be forced to submit.

Mr. Estrada may have also overlooked the fact that overseas Filipino workers thirsty for news and information about the controversies surrounding the presidency log on to the Internet to find out what's happening back home. Should the news say that the peso is plunging like a neckline, that the stock market is hitting rock bottom and that businessmen's call for his resignation is screaming like an orgasm, these websites would carry such information worldwide. Preventing such information from spreading throughout the global Internet and branding such data as "misinformation and lies" is like asking the Filipino people to close their eyes, cover their ears and shut their mouths like good monkeys.

We've seen the people on the streets, now we're seeing them on the information highway. As the President said that people can rally all they want, so should he allow the new and empowered people to express their views in the latest communications medium to change people's lives-the Internet.

Tessa Salazar interviews Rep. Leandro Verceles Jr., one of the proponents of the E-commerce law, and National Movement for Free Elections secretary general and Makati Business Club executive director Guillermo Luz, about this phenomenon which brings advocacy and democratic exercise to new heights.

What do you think of websites that have joined the actual street rallies in asking for President Estrada's resignation or impeachment?

VERCELES: This is an exercise of democracy in the information century. Participation of the citizenry can be enhanced through "online democracy." It's too bad, though, that we cannot differentiate between Filipinos residing in the Philippines and abroad in online surveys as this does make a difference in the outcome.

LUZ: People are looking for all sorts of avenues to express their sentiments. The Web is just one of them. If you take a look at People Power Part II-the People Power sequel-the bigger difference is that the combination of the Net, e-mail and text messaging have made communications so quick among people that their ability to organize has vastly improved over even two years ago, and certainly over People Power Part I.

The ability to consolidate things like signature campaigns, and pass on information via websites-as far as the Philippines is concerned-is unprecedented. That's really democracy in a different sort of way though I would say that it's not entirely democratic in the sense that it's not demographically spread out. Obviously this only applies to people who are connected. For them it's an unbelievable weapon.

I've always used (the Web via E-groups, a popular mailing list tool on the Internet at www.egroups.com) as my favorite example of e-democracy or e-governance. The best example was the passage of the E-commerce Act. That act was, in my view, discussed as much online as it was in Congress. If you take a look at the way that act evolved from a bill into a law, copies of the bills were actually posted on E-groups, or even websites using mailing lists. And the people were commenting on specific provisions and submitting it online as well. Instead of having to always go to Congress for hearings, people made their comments online. I think that bill may not have gotten as much comments as it did without E-groups. Even the ability to organize people together, a lot of e-mail messages were used.

Do you think websites asking Mr. Estrada to resign would be more effective if digital signatures were affixed? Or do you think an e-mail address would suffice as a valid signature?

VERCELES: Digital signatures are more secure and thus have more probative and evidentiary value, although e-mail addresses can still suffice although easily faked--they have low probative and evidentiary value here.

LUZ: In this case, I'm not that worried about the legality. I think the point of the exercise is to collect the viewpoints of people, not to have a legal document. Anyway, under the law, there are two laws which will allow what they call public initiative or public recall. The initiative and recall mechanism is used for two purposes. One, is to initiate the filing of a bill in Congress or, second, to recall a public official.

The point of all those websites, however, is that people want to emphasize their wish, their sentiments. It has nothing to do with a legal petition. It's all about finding out how many people out there feel strongly about a certain topic. If they can get hundreds of thousands of people to log on to their sites in a matter of days, that means people are interested, and that people are mad or upset. And I think that's the value of the site. It's a venue for expressing your wish. It's a venue for collecting information, and it's a venue for transmitting information.

Some people are being legalistic and think, well, it should encompass the E-commerce Act. The fact is, if you want to make a legal petition, it's not the E-commerce Act you have to worry about, it's the public initiative provision of the law. I think there are separate laws that would have the implementing guidelines for that.

Do you think taking a protest to the Internet is better than taking it to the streets?

VERCELES: All democratic exercises are all right as long as the constitution is not violated. Protests in the streets and on the Internet are within the constitutional limits. Warm bodies (protests in the streets), however, seem to have more impact.
—Inquirer News Service