MANILA, Philippines - The website of President Aquino received 16,000 hits from 94 countries as soon as it was launched yesterday.
The new website, http://www.president.gov.ph, apparently replaced the presidential website maintained by the Office of the President in the previous administration.
Presidential Communications Office Secretary for Operations Herminio Coloma said the website aims to be more interactive, allowing an exchange of ideas and providing better access to the President for 94 million Filipinos.
Coloma said they would be launching Phase 2 of the project, or a system for text messaging, by October, when the Aquino administration will be celebrating its first 100 days in office.
Unlike Phase 1, where the website that carried social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Friendster and Multiply were featured, Coloma said Phase 2 will introduce the short messaging system, e-mail, hotline and the traditional snail mail.
“We are urging the telecommunications companies to join us in this endeavor, so that we can get the greatest number of people involved,” Coloma said.
Coloma said the second phase aims to secure interaction from 40 million cellular phone subscribers that comprise 40 percent of 90 million Filipinos.
Coloma said the President’s new website will not discriminate, although foul language can be filtered at a certain level.
He said the Internet portal would “welcome dissenting opinions” from the public.
The setting up of the feedback mechanism, which Mr. Aquino promised in his June 30 inaugural speech, is also a gauge of public sentiment.
“We’d rather be overwhelmed (with sentiments) than be underwhelmed,” Coloma said.
“It will be a very democratic and open exchange of ideas. Let a thousand flowers bloom so that we can have a more meaningful dialogue with the citizens. We will engage them in productive conversations and dialogues,” he said.
Coloma downplayed speculations the website may be elitist since only the middle class and the rich have access to computers.
“This has a viral effect. And you can’t underestimate the potency or power of the new digital media,” he said.
Giving credit to his tech-savvy staff, Coloma also introduced “Tito Noy,” a new feature in the portal, since the 50-year-old bachelor Chief Executive is known to be very close to his nephews and nieces.
“Tito Noy, this is how the President will be known in his new website,” Coloma said.
“In calling on the people to be part of change, P-Noy invites everyone, including the youngest among us, to become active nation builders. The page of Tito Noy aims to help bring back the traditional Filipino values like saying po and opo,” the website section Tito Noy read.
In one section of the website, President Aquino or Tito Noy poses with Rafael Varela, son of Department of Education Undersecretary Francisco Varela.
“P-Noy wants to involve our children, the future leaders of our country, by engaging them to be builders of the greatness of our culture,” according to the Tito Noy web page, one of the new featured sections of the site.
The home page featured famous quotations of the President like: “Kayo ang boss ko (You are my boss). “Iba na tayo ngayon, bagong Pilipinas (We have changed; this is the new Philippines).” “Piliin natin ang daang matuwid (Let’s choose the righteous path).”
The site also featured links to Aquino’s Cabinet members. Clicking on their names will redirect visitors to the site of their respective departments.
Other sections of the site include a panata (vow) that Filipinos can take for nation-building, and a section where readers can share their thoughts on how the government can be more transparent.
Before the launching of the site, there was a striptease of sorts, where the new website’s home page was partially visible behind a clock counting down to the launch.
Aquino’s site was launched more than a month after he assumed office June 30.
Before the launching of the new website, Mr. Aquino had no online presence on the web, with the old Office of the President website (www.op.gov.ph) redirecting to the site of the Official Gazette.