7.Online citizen engagement

Citizens have taken to social media to react on issues such as reproductive health, misuse of pork barrel funds⁶⁷ and Freedom of Information. The social media platforms most commonly used by Filipinos are Facebook and Twitter. Facebook has 30 million users in the Philippines, accounting for 30% of the total population and 90 per cent of the total online population in the country.⁶⁸ Twitter has 9.5 million users in the Philippines.⁶⁹

There is no government-wide policy on the use of social media or other forms of digital engagement. But many government agencies have accounts on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Agencies respond to questions on services with varying levels of timeliness. Issuing policies on the use of social media is left to the discretion of the head of the respective agency. Some public officials and civil servants use their personal social media accounts.⁷⁰ There are also government agencies that do not allow civil servants to use social media during office hours and have no social media presence.