The Sigh of a Civil Engineering Student

For the sake of "reviving" this blog, I was itching to talk about this ever since I visited the website and some TV station (and no, not the station that aired it) sparked my fascination and urge to dive into this topic. I really hope you guys enjoy long posts and I do apologize for the long post as I really want to say a lot of things about this.

As we were waiting for the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton Bout last Sunday here at home on GMA-7, a barrage of new TV commercials just come by like it's the Superbowl in America (For more info on advertising in the Super Bowl: click here) (It's so much that it even goes up to the point of pissing some people off). They would range from guys like Sec. Teodoro "reminding us to be prepared for disasters" (Remember T.E.O.D.O.R.O.?! *ED: I hope you were paying attention to the news not long ago*), spelling remittance wrong when in fact, for them, it's correct!, old stuff like some paint commercial wherein the painter sows off his yoga "skills", and then this.

When I saw some personalities like Ely Buendia, Angel Locsin, Ramon Bautisita, the rector(?) of San Beda and a whole lot of others to name a few, who wouldn't pay attention right? In that commercial, they were saying some things like a time for change, they'll start from themselves the change that is needed, and a whole lot of other things then one by one, they wore what seems to look like dog tags and tell us that all of us should start that change to move the country forward, strongly stressing the words "Ako Mismo". (If any of you haven't watched the ad yet, by all means click here.)

Ako Mismo! is, what I think it is, some kind of movement wherein they believe that we should start that change in ourselves. In the first time you visit the site, you're supposed to type in the promise in yourself what you can do for this country from simple things like being proud to be a Filipino, help others, etc to more serious things like maybe be of service to this country perhaps. Afterwards, you're immediately taken to the registration page. In that page, you're supposed to type in information like (what's listed on that particular page) your chosen username, password (of course), name (first and last), mobile number, email address, city, zip code, province, gender, profile, and date of birth. It's a lot, isn't it? Afterwards, I don't know what would follow next since I nearly fell into registering for this but at the last minute, I declined.

At the moment I saw the commercial, I thought that the advocacy was great as this country is in disarray as of the moment, functioning but in a need of repair. As I saw the address flashed on the screen, I immediately visited the site after watching the match. (which Manny won in two rounds! Hooray!) When I saw the registration page immediately, I wanted to look for more information into this campaign in the website itself. However, this was not possible because being a member is required in accessing the rest of the site (except the terms and conditions as well as the privacy policy). Then and there, I smelled something fishy. You can't even access the home page! Doesn't this raise any doubt right there?

When I visited my plurk timeline, I noticed some of my friends there that they already registered and even posted some pledges by some people (even the not-really-serious-and-hilarious ones). I searched through Google for even some blog entries or threads in discussions forums about this however, I noticed that majority of what I've seen is that they're very interested in the dog tags. I mean, come on! Is this really one way (if not the only way) of obtaining such "precious" dog tags? If it's just for the dog tags, there are probably places to make customized dog tags out there. (But to be honest, I also asked where those dog tags can be found. HAHAHA!)

Primarily, what hinders me to join here is the lack of information. Honestly, the whole idea is questionable. From the forwarded email that was posted by RockEd's Gang Badoy, this seems like a campaign by Smart Telecom's efforts for the elections. Although this bit of info is questionable as well, it does raise concern nevertheless. It also questions that in their Privacy Policy that you can access this site without the need to register. Is there a bug in the website or something because I can't access the entire site myself. Tonight, as I was browsing other blog entries that are doubting this campaign as well, I share their sentiments too. (see below for some entries) The TVC really came at a critical time as a lot of people are tuned in to their TV sets or are watching in places like bars, malls, sports arenas and the like back then and I know it's a good strategy but I ask myself: "Why did they release such a commercial at that time?" Again, it's kind of fishy. Even if I found out that this was "spearheaded by Edu Manzano", I'm still in doubt of this. Who knows, this might be a party list what would come up in the 2010 elections!

My point is that you should think of what you're signing up first before you actually join in them. Don't be fooled immediately if the people supporting this is star-studded. Although this is for the country, think about it as well. Why in the world do we need to make pledges like this in order to change our country? It's pointless, really. We don't even need to say it to others. We can start changing by ourselves alone without the need for such campaign. (It feels reminiscent of the I Am Ninoy campaign although that's an entirely different matter).

If you're one of those who doubt this campaign and want to get more information about this, welcome to the club. If you recently signed up, I hope there's a way to change your personal information somewhere there or, if they would permit and you really want to, delete your account from there. If you're still deciding whether to join the bandwagon or not, I suggest you find information about this first. The more, the better! If you signed up just for the dog tags, no comment.

*This entry is subject for edits (including correction for typos) and new information as they arrive.
*More opinions by some people for the time being:

• http://www.bikoy.net/archives/2009/05/04/on-ako-mismo/
• http://baratillo.net/?p=1235
• http://martinperez.asia/2009/05/03/what-is-ako-mismo/
• http://www.newmedia.com.ph/ako-mismo-doubts-and-concerns/
• http://brianong.blogspot.com/2009/05/ako-mismo-pop-culture-social-activism.html
• http://www.ourawesomeplanet.com/awesome/2009/05/ako-mismo.html
• http://rockersworld.com/ako-mismo/
• [EDIT] http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/features/05/05/09/ako-mismo-campaign-questioned-over-privacy