Future of Internet in the Philippines as a Field of Study in Political Science

Claim: It can be the future Field of Study in Political Science

Grounds: A tool for Political Participation: The use of Social Media enables the people
to become more participative in the events happening in a country including its political
affairs.
Warrant: Caused by the fact that access to Internet is relatively cheap and the usage of
this technology is fairly easy to use.
Qualifier
The penetration of Internet in the country is 38% of the population or more than a
third of the people are regular user of internet. 8% growth annually.
(Regular Usage is measured around two to three hours of per day)
2/3 of the Users are under 30 which means in the future that we can expect
growing number of users.
The phenomenon of the Million People March against Pork Barrel and the Cyber
attacks against China and the Government.
Counterclaim: The penetration of Internet in the country is still small in comparison to
our neighbouring countries. Japan has more than 90%, Singapore with 78% and in
terms of growth we are lagging behind other countries such as Vietnam with 14%.
Additional data supports that the Philippines lacks modern infrastructure capable of
supporting high speed internet services.
Rebuttal: We are in performing better in comparison to other more Industrialized
country like Thailand and Malaysia. The Filipinos are more active online and capable in
terms of computer knowledge.
Conclusion: It was a promising field of study as we have witnessed the Internet
specifically the Social Media unleash its power both locally and globally. The Arab
Spring, the Occupy Movements, Anonymous Philippines, Million People March are just
few of the events that have been triggered by the use of Internet.