Kasado na ang pakikipagtambalan ng Commission on Elections (Comelec) sa social networking site na Twitter para sa 2016 elections.

Sa pamamagitan ng partnership agreement, sinabi ni Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista na mas magiging accessible para milyun-milyong Pinoy ang serye ng presidential debate sa pamamagitan ng pagsusubaybay sa mga post sa Twitter.

“We look forward to working with Twitter to make presidential debates more accessible to millions of Filipinos, and on a larger scale to increase voter participation and political transparency throughout the Philippine presidential elections,” pahayag ni Bautista.

Tatlong yugto ng presidential debate at isang vice presidential debate ang pinaghahandaan ngayon ng poll body, sa pakikipagtulungan ng media organizations, tulad ng Manila Bulletin, na magsisimula sa Pebrero.

Ikinagalak naman ni Twitter-Asia Pacific and Middle East Vice President Rishi Jaitly ang nabuong tambalan ng kanilang kumpanya at Comelec.

“We are delighted today that Comelec is partnering with Twitter and going to unlock the full potential of this tool, this platform in the context of the presidential elections happening this year,” aniya.

Sinabi ni Jaitly na ipapaskil sa Twitter ang mga premium inside data at visualization upang makatulong na maipamahagi ang pulso ng mamamayan at kung ano ang kani-kanilang opinyon sa mga ikinasang debate.

“The second element of the partnership will be during these debates, any citizen with a phone will have a chance to interact, ask questions. At its heart, Twitter is a mobile microphone for anybody. We are excited that during the debates, users will have a chance to interact live,” aniya.

“During the elections, users will have a chance to tweet any irregularities seen on the ground,” dagdag ni Jaitly.

Plano rin ng Comelec na muling ilunsad ang kampanyang #SumbongKo sa susunod na buwan gamit ang social media.

“One of things we are looking at is learning how to use the Twitter dashboard, specifically to aggregate incident reports we will be getting. We tried this in 2013 with #SumbongKo,” ayon kay Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez.

(Leslie Ann G. Aquino)