Activity 9.3: A Look into the Past As mentioned earlier, many events in the past showed us how media play a pivotal role in bringing awareness and action addressing social and political issues around the world. In the Philippines, an example of these events is the Million People March. In this activity, you are to read the article below about the Million People March — what is was, how it came to be, how it ended, and what role media and information played in between, Read, reflect, and answer the guide questions that follow on a separate sheet of paper. The Million People March ‘August 17, 2013, a day after the Commission on Audit (COA) released a special report ‘on the Priority Assistance Development Fund (PDAF), saw how social media became a springboard for a mass protest. Calls for protest began circulating on Facebook and Twitter after a'series of exposés by the Philippine Daily Inquirer about a mammoth scam involving Congress” PDAF. PDAF or more popularly known as the “pork barrel’, the term used to mean funds allocated to senators and congressmen to be used in their pet development projects, sparked ‘online outrage from the Filipinos because of how, by nature, vulnerable it is to corruption and how it has become a fund source for some legislators. What enraged citizens more was that then-President Benigno Aquino Ill earlier maintained that he wanted to keep the PDAF Consequently, friends Amold Pedrigal, Peachy Bretana. and Bernardo Bernardo. cteated a Facebook event page to gather people who wanted the PDAF scrapped. They said they wanted a "massive pocket picnic” and to bring one million people at the Luneta Park on August 26. Asionishingly, the #MilionPeopleMarch surfaced by August 18 and immediately dominated Twitter. This hashtag, together with #PDAFKalampag and #ScrapPork, flooded Twitter and FB feeds with over 140,000 social media mentions as of 8PM of August 26. Many Filipinos ‘expressed their anger through creating blogs. pages. advertisements and even memes to show that they agree to the idea of stopping the Pork Barrel Fund. Although the movement originally called to bring in a million people to march against the gratt-ainted pork barrel fund, it has still been deemed a success as the online campaign was. actualized with 80,000-100,000 people at Luneta according to the police. This number included professionals, students, workers, priests, nuns and even civic and showbiz personalities. The movement was even emulated on a smaller-scale in other cities across the country and in various cities around the world where there are concentrations of Filipinos. In the face of the mass’ growing collective anger, President Aquino announced that he ‘was suspending the releases of money and vowed to reform the system. After the protests, senators also released statements acknowledging the legitimacy of protesters’ call to abolish lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel. This was the Million People March — a tale of how a group of 3's call to reform in social, media sparked a crusade against corruption, a movement actualized on the ground. ‘Sources: Hundreds of thousands join people's march against pork barrel (https:/inewsinfo inquirer.net/47516S/tens-of thousends join peoples-march-against pork-barrel), #VillinPeopleMarch: Online and ofline success (nttos:/www.rappler.com/nation/37360-million-people- ‘march-social-media-protest-successGuide questions for Activity 9.3° 1. What was the “Million People March’ all about? 2. Who initiated the movement? 3. What role did media play in the conception and actualization of the Million People March? 4, What was the outcome of the Million People March movement? Was it successful in terms of achieving its goals? 5. What can you recommend for the betterment of mass media-assisted campaigns such as the Million People March? Activity 9.4: Cartoon Analysis Instructions: Analyze the cartoon below and answer the guide questions that follow. ‘Source: Truth and Media. 2009. Retrieved from httos:/twww.foonpool.com/cartoons/truth?%20and%20media_57496 (May 30, 2020) Guide questions: 1. What is the message in this cartoon? 2. Is the situation about media depicted in the cartoon true in the Philippines? Why or why not? 3. Does the cartoon show a challenge or an opportunity? Why do you say so?