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The first AFP Social Media Summit


It was an amazing day to begin with the first AFP Social Media Summit which aims members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other security and defense agencies to partake into the knowledge of social usefulness and responsibility by tapping into one of the most credible personalities in the field.

 Graced by the AFP Chief of Staff GEN EMMANUEL T BAUTISTA, he stressed the importance of social media usage as it creates a transparency between our organization and the people without failing to perform our duty. 
One of the first people to speak on stage was Mr. Rafael Alunan III, in case you're wondering, the social media keynote speaker was a former DILG Secretary and highlighted the importance of Facebook for National Interest where it can be of great use for philanthropy and charitable purposes. This means that everyone on social media can take part of an advocacy run similar to the Typhoon Yolanda movement last year where most netizens rose up to help their fellowmen. 

Also, one of his most stressed talks specifically targeted amongst Public Information Officers of an agency is to never take the chance of discussing confidential matters on the net. "Cybersecurity begins with self and what not to say or reveal is vital to our national well-being."
The second person to speak was Ms. Ana Pista discussing about public relations in social media. I felt like she's talking to a crowd of business-centered professionals rather than a defense agency, yet she still emphasized that social media is a necessity for every organization in terms of public relations. 


"It is not a matter of choice, social media is a necessity."In this modern world, one of the most effective PR tools is the use of social media, it gives the corporate world the link to its real world customers with face-to-face interaction or personal relationships. Having this skill in our people in the government gives us trust whenever they are easy to reach. 

The third speaker in the name of Mr. Ben Francia taught us to take advantage of social media as a trend. We may never know how social media will evolve ten years from now but it is clear to us that we need to become proactive when using it as it gives us the ability to keep in touch with the youth, which later would become the future leaders of the country. He also talked about the long term impact of social media within the organization. 
One of his highlighted points to take home was the 5 "S"of Digital Marketing.
  1. Sell - Meeting the brand or organization objectives. 
  2. Speak - Connecting through dialogue
  3. Serve - Adding value by listening (to the people)
  4. Save - It gives huge cost savings when using social media to connect with people
  5. Sizzle - It gives us positive results and image of the organization
In order for us to garner some "social" speed and hitting the correct personality when it comes to the social media, Mr. Raffy Pekson II gave us that important pointers to implement. 

He cited that just like the name patches marked in our uniforms, our identity as public servants is a representation of the organization we work for. Just as he also stressed that we must be the same person in the real world just as we are online, otherwise, people can get confused and will never give you the trust they deserve.
He also shared the Top 5 Positive Personality Adjectives one must have as social media contributor.
  1. Be Practical
  2. Be Passionate
  3. Be Creative
  4. Be Protective
  5. Be Honest

The fifth to speak on the floor, Mr. Giancarlo Viterbo has shown us that we must build communities to share upon the circles of social media and not just platforms (or tools of exchange). 

Our minds went in for a challenge and digested this hard-pressing thought to stop fueling conversations (probably stuff of gossip) instead fuel the people with discussions that can stimulate their minds to contribute for the better half of the problem or give them an opportunity to act upon the problem as a community. I thought Bayanihan can still be evident in the realm of social media and it has proven very well to be so. The 'Together' mindset should be one of the core objectives of a social media contributor. 

A follow-up talk from the first speaker, the sixth man to speak on stage, Mr. Jose "Wo" Rosete, got a bit "tactical" and showed us the simple rule when online, that is to preserve operations security.


It has been clear to him that some families on social media post photos of their husbands or wives in uniform (often because of pride) not realizing the damage it could affect to the safety of their family and the unit. It is something that must not be taken for granted regardless of how privatized an account can be. 

He may seem to have presented an oversimplified way on how social media managers should respond on the internet but he surely has his points crossed. "We need to respond as if we are also human; we can make jokes, we can make interactions that acknowledge our visitors."

He is probably the most surprising speaker in the lot that day, often asked if he was a former active personnel in the Armed Forces of the Philippines considering his portable computer is wearing Scout Ranger and SOCOM stickers. 

Then one of the last two speakers on stage went up, Ms. Hana Abello, stoked every soldier on stage discussing about Twitter.


She also stressed that being social means being human.

Lasty, the speaker who rocked the stage was Gang Badoy who talked about uplifting the AFP's image in social media.


She was the most credible person to speak with this matter as she had ignited the popularity of "Manny Sundalo" some years back. She said that simplicity and always being ready to serve marked a standard in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and in the Philippine National Police.

She also talked about the responsibility of being active online as every eye is set on you (or the organization). The most important takeaway I had with her was that social media is just a tool or a microphone, it is no use if there are no good soldiers (or police officers) to talk about.

Below is a video of her keynote speech thanks to Wazzup PH


The AFP Social Media Summit was held last July 11, 2014 at the AFP Theater in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City and was attended by a thousand public information personnel from all divisions of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and other government agencies.

The summit was formed to equip social media responsibility while taking advantage of its use as a form of a link between our forces for the Filipino people. It was organized by the Civil Military Operations School, Media & Civil Affairs Group, Civil Relations Service, AFP and ArdentComm.

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