A 101 on change and getting petitions off the ground

MANILA, Philippines - Young STAR’s Erwin Romulo talks to Gang Badoy, Rock Ed founder and interim communications director of change.org in the Philippines.

ERWIN ROMULO: Do online petitions really work? Any specific examples?

GANG BADOY: Yes, many times it has! Sting was petitioned on change.org to change the venue of his concert in protest of the plans to ball pine trees by a certain supermall, and Sting replied! Remember that? In Guimaras Island, a turtle that was held captive for tourist photo opportunities for a fee was set free because of a petition to the DENR, a public school asked for a protective landslide wall beside their school and a petition to the Mayor got the Dep Ed and the DPWH to respond got it going. In Zamboanga, the Pilar School run by Catholic nuns was disallowing students to wear the hijab (Muslim veil for females) was petitioned and they responded positively, even the barring of regular taxis to ply the airport route was lifted because of a petition set forth by a group called Dakila – there are thousands of petition victories all over the world.

What would you say to the charge that online activism is just a way for people to feel like that they’ve done something instead of going out there and actually doing anything?

There is definitely that possibility, for people to imagine that double-clicking a petition is the only contribution of and to a petition. What many of us need to understand is that a petition can be many things. It can be a way of making an issue known. It’s a way of magnifying a statement, also an invitation to many others to ‘share’ what you’re pushing for.  Imagine it as a hyper-extreme-version of ‘likes’ on a Facebook post.  It is an act of saying, “This is what I think should be changed in society, my school, in services of a corporation etc” and then you ask people, “Do you agree with me?”  Then when 10, 20, or 1,000 people sign the same petition, then the voice gets bigger, the statement gets louder, the push stronger.

Why do you think people feel powerless?

In the Philippines, many people, especially those who are closer to the margins feel like they are not heard.  There are valid ideas of young ones who have, let’s say, only 50 followers on Twitter. If someone with a bigger following re-tweets them, then more people hear them, and so on and so forth.

We know this. Imagine change.org as a massive retweeting of something. In a society whose broadsheets and radio shows cover and interview technically the same collective from time to time, we know that there is that bigger population that imagines itself voiceless.

This, sadly, is true on many aspects and this is why I feel a great sense of urgency to introduce change.org as a tool to be heard. I want more Filipinos going to the site so they can see what kind of petitions have been pushed for and responded to. I want Filipinos to know that there is such a site that can serve as a poetic megaphone for others to hear them and join them in the form of signing their petitions. I want Filipinos to know that there is this. and that they too can be heard by those in power.

How does one make a successful online petition?

This is interesting! Like an advertising campaign, the most crucial first question is, “Who are you talking to?” Target the most appropriate someone in charge. You cannot always just forever petition the President. If it’s about a road, petition the Sec retaryof Public Works and Highways. If it’s a complaint on a product, petition the brand manager. If people from a certain airline are over-all rude, petition the Human Resource Training head—the more asintado your petition, the better! Aim well!  You can’t just petition ‘the cosmos!’  Think! Who is in the best position to reply, grant, respond to your petition.  Start there.

Next step – be specific with your petition.  Do you want a turtle freed? A wall built?  Write it as concisely as possible, ask someone to help you with it.  Usually, Christine Roque the Campaigner of change.org in the Philippines can reply with tips to assist a new petitioner, providing basic guidelines.  But the important thing is, you have to know exactly what you want, and ask for it through the petition.

There are more tools on site actually that can guide you, too.  Explore the website! Get to know change.org like you’d get to know a new phone, learn it like a gadget that will be put to good use once you know the buttons and functions.  Be heard! Sometimes, there will be chances and choices that can allow you to deliver your petition live to the person you petitioned. Go!  That’s what I meant, I think, when I said earlier that double clicking the petition is not the main action.  Double clicking change.org is just the start.
You have a voice. Don’t let anyone make you feel otherwise.