Bicol University

College of Arts and Letters

Legazpi City

ASSOC. PROF. II RICHARD D. MADRILEJOS

Thesis Adviser
Bicol University

Dear Prof. Madrilejos,

Greetings!
The undersigned are BA Communication students of Bicol University College of Arts and
Letters who are currently undertaking an undergraduate thesis entitled, “THE NARRATIVES
ON THE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN STRATEGIES DURING THE 2022 LOCAL AND
NATIONAL ELECTIONS IN MASBATE” as a requirement for the Degree of Bachelor of
Arts in Communication. This study aims to know the political campaign strategies utilized
during the 2022 Masbate election, and to fully understand the experiences and common
narratives based from the voters and politicians, as the informants of the paper from Masbate.

Recently, we conducted a pre-testing interview. We interviewed a voter and a politician residing

in Daraga, Albay. Gladly, they were very cooperative as we conduct our interview. The
interview lasted for six to seven minutes per interview. During the interview, we noticed that the
interviewees were having difficulty in understanding some of the questions, so, we clarified the
questions in case of misinterpretation about the topic and questions.
Along with that, during the interview, we also made some improvements in our questions that
helped us attain our desired data for our study.
As a chairperson during our thesis defense, we would like to ask for your approval of our
interview questionnaires and we are open for any suggestions and improvements, as it is for the
betterment of our study.
Herein attached is our statement of the problem, revised questionnaire and the result of pre-
testing.
Thank you very much and we are hoping for your unwavering response regarding the subject at
hand.

Respectfully yours,
The Reseachers:
Almonte, Jose Amor V.
Almero, Francesca Arielle I.
Apalit, Kirsten Kay B.
Bonilla, Rollymie B.
Oliver, Apple Rubie M.
Statement of the Problem

The present study aims to identify the experiences and common narratives of voters and
politicians on political campaign strategies used during 2022 Elections in Masbate. Specifically,
this study aims to answer the following:

1. What political campaign strategies that voters and politicians experienced in Masbate
during the 2022 election period?

2. What factors considered by politicians in choosing political campaign strategies in the

election?

3. What are the most dominant campaign strategies that had taken place in Masbate
during the 2022 election period?

4. What are the common narratives given by the voters and politicians out of 2022
Masbate election?
REVISED QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE VOTERS

1. What are the political campaign strategies have you encountered during campaign
election period in Masbate that affects your voting decision making?

2. Among the political campaign strategies that you have encountered, what strategies
appeals to you the most?

3. What content of political campaign strategies you think affects your voting decision?
Why?

4. What do you think were the good and bad political campaign strategies that were
present during recent election period in Masbate?

5. What is your ideal candidate? How do you describe your ideal candidate?

6. What can you say about the result of the 2022 National and Local Election in
Masbate? Do you have any positive or negative perspectives about it?
REVISED QUESTIONNAIRE AFTER PRE-TESTING FOR THE POLITICIANS

1. What are the political campaign strategies that you employed during campaign
period in Masbate?

2. What contents did you utilized in your campaign materials to get voters support?

3. Among the political campaign strategies that you employed; what strategies do you
think help you the most to gain voters? Why did you consider these strategies for
your campaign?

4. Did you encounter attack from your opponent as their strategy? If yes, what kind of
attacks and how did you defense yourself? If not, did you consider to attack
opponents’ weaknesses as a strategy?

5. What do you think were the good and bad political campaigns that were present
during the recent election in Masbate?

6. What can you say about the result of the 2022 National and Local Election in
Masbate? Do you have any positive or negative perspective? Can you explain
further?
 PRE-TESTING QUESTIONNAIRES
THE NARRATIVES ON THE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN STRATEGIES DURING THE 2022
LOCAL AND NATIONAL ELECTIONS IN MASBATE

Voters’ Questionnaire:

I. SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE:

Name (Optional): Marifel Fernandez

Age: 22 years old
Gender: Female
Address: Daet, Camarines Norte
Times you have voted for years (i.e. 1st time; 2nd time…): Once

II. INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR THE KEY INFORMANTS

1. What are the political campaign strategies have you encountered during campaign

election period in Daet that affects your voting decision making?

Mostly from social media campaigns. House to house movements is a bit

rare, they mainly focus on far barrios.

a. Nag-social media campaign sa barrios?

No, they did house to house campaigning on not exposed areas such as

barrios.

2. Among the political campaign strategies that you have encountered, what strategies

appeals to you the most?

It’s the social media campaign.

3. What content of political campaign strategies you think affects your voting decision?

First of is the educational background and his/her achievements for the

past years, especially, if he/she is a public servant. Second is the family

 background as this also affects the belief system and opinions of the

candidate.

4. What do you think were the good and bad political campaign strategies that were present

during recent election period in Daet?

Social media is a bit of both. Good in a way because it has more

engagements, bad in a way that it delimits the information for others.

a. Did you happen to notice any bad campaign strategies?

Vote buying like for instance, its midday and there is a bunch of people

lining up by the terminal to receive cash from politicians. But what strikes me

the most is the idea that the said activity is highly exposed yet no authorities

intervened in a way, it is getting normalized. It is being considered as a good

strategy because it involves money which is practical nowadays. “Kunin mo

‘yong pera, pero iboto mo yung tama.” (“Accept the money, but vote

wisely.”).

5. What is your ideal candidate? How do you describe your ideal candidate?

Someone who is smart and empathic. He/she must not serve oneself but

the country. What I noticed here, is that politics is becoming a business from

generation to generation.

6. What can you say about the 2022 Daet election results? Do you have any positive or

negative perspectives about it?

I have no complains for the results here in Daet, because after three terms,

we are freed from a corruptive system. There’s a new administration that

focuses more on the development of Daet and not by oneself. As for the bad
 perspective, I have none, because the people were enlightened on who is the

“toxic politician.”

a. What about the 2022 national results, any good or bad perspective?

As for the good, I’ll say that a lot of the youth were enlightened. Even

though, they weren’t registered voters, they were aware. As for the bad, we

were robbed. It is obvious but no one bothered to fight back or voice it out,

maybe because of fear.

 Politicians’ Questionnaire:

I. SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE:

Name (Optional): Elmer Lodronio

Age: 56 years old
Gender: Male
Elected/ Non- elected (Position): Barangay Chairman
Years in the service: 4-5 years in the service

II. INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR THE KEY INFORMANTS

1. What are the political campaign strategies that you employed during campaign period

in Anislag?

Tarpaulin, Sound system (Jingle) and Flyers.

a. Why did you consider these strategies in you campaign?

To remind the voters that I am running for a position as a Barangay

Chairman. Although, I am already well-known in the area, it is just to help me

get to introduce myself to those who don’t.

b. Are your achievements and background included in those materials?

Yes.

c. Have you encountered misinformation towards you? Did you attack/defend yourself?

Numerous attacks were thrown towards me. However, I chose not to

defend myself since the people knew who I really am. Attacking/defending

my political opponents was not considered as a choice. They are aware that

those information are fictitious.

d. Is misinformation still present in Barangay Anislag?

Yes.
2. Among the political campaign strategies that you have employed, what strategies do

you think helped you gain voters support? Why so?

The platforms that I am aiming to develop in our barangay. Specifically,

pathways, roads, and other needed facilities. And material recovery facilities

for waste management. I informed the people through miting de avance.

a. Why do you think it is effective?

Because it is what the people of barangay Anislag needs.

3. What do you think were the good and bad political campaigns that were present

during the recent election in Anislag?

The good campaigns were doing public deliberations and gathering the

needs/problems of the people that needs to be solved further. There are a lot of

bad campaigns. Voters have different ideals. They change whenever they please/

whoever is in front of them. Especially, today, when the people know where the

money is, it is whom they will support, or worst the voters expect money from all

the parties. Vote buying is even present in the recent 2022 local and presidential

election.

4. What can you say about the 2022 Anislag election? Do you have any positive or

negative perspective? Can you explain further?

The good thing that happened in the recent election was, it was done

peacefully and violence-free. Although, threats to the voters were inevitable.

Compared to the previous elections, harassments, threats, and killings often

happens and which I believe that it cannot be avoided in the history of politics.