MANILA, Philippines—Is the “Ako Mismo” movement an insidious plot to collect voter information that could be used in next year’s presidential election?

The prospect of a “Big Brother” gathering demographic data for a political campaign was raised Thursday by voter education advocate Jaime Garchitorena, who questioned the way the movement funded by Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Smart Foundation was gathering and handling information on its members.

“It’s all very cloak-and-dagger, the way they operate,” Garchitorena told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, adding that there was nothing that would prevent the wireless unit of telecommunications giant Smart Communications Inc. from accessing the data.

“It looks like a phishing site,” he said, referring to the practice of overtly gathering personal information on people through online means, to be eventually used for possible clandestine and illegal purposes.

No less than PLDT chair Manuel Pangilinan has admitted to supporting the Ako Mismo movement. But he stressed that this had nothing to do with rumors that he was eyeing a run for the presidency in 2010.

‘Disturbing things’

In an e-mail that started circulating on Tuesday, Garchitorena—a member of the group YouthVotePhilippines—said he discovered “some disturbing things” upon examining the Ako Mismo website.

“To all those that signed up with Ako Mismo, you are now part of Smart’s network for potential campaigns in 2010,” he wrote. “In all my years of signing up for information, I have never had a site require so much information as required fields.”

According to Garchitorena, the details required for membership are such that it will be possible to track down and contact any member at any time, should the movement wish to do so.

“This makes for a perfect voter mapping database and campaign tool for anyone that wants to pay Smart for the information,” he said. “Did you think Smart would pay millions in production and advertising and talent costs for nothing?”

Fine print

Garchitorena said the fine print in the sign-up page would allow Ako Mismo to use the personal information to contact members to mail newsletters, documents, publications; remember their online profile and preferences; and help members “quickly find information” relevant to them based on their interests.

“In other words, it can push information to you, which is an important tool in making sure that you can receive even unwanted campaign messages,” he said.

Ako Mismo can also undertake statistical analysis and use members’ answers to push for other mapping and trending purposes, Garchitorena said.

More ominously, the movement washes its hands of any person “accidentally” cracking the site and getting hold of membership information, he pointed out.

“Ako Mismo shall not be liable under any circumstances for damages resulting from unauthorized use of information collected from visitors to the site,” the site reads.

‘Flimsy’ allegations

Reached for comment, Ako Mismo spokesperson Antonio Samson questioned Garchitorena’s “passion and intensity” in attacking the movement’s methods.

“His allegations are flimsy,” said Samson, a former senior PLDT official and the current chair of DDB Media, the outfit that produced the ad campaign. “He is presuming that the data are being mined, because we’re asking for certain information.”

The detailed member information is required partly because the group will be distributing its trademark dog tags to its members, Samson said.

He said Smart did not have to gather more data because it already had 37 million subscribers in its wireless network.

“It would be easier to do a text blast,” he said, adding that Ako Mismo merely wanted to understand what issues and problems were most important to Filipinos.”

Samson also said Pangilinan was a staunch supporter of the movement but had kept his distance from its operations.