As per Ms. Omongos, “The Philippines is a democratic country; our government today is under the rule of democracy wherein it is a political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections. As of today, we are now living in the Digital Era wherein we are a part of a big product in a history of technology. Every day we are updating ourselves to our friends and family through internet about our latest gatherings and happy moments. Through the internet we can tackle such issue without limitations and restrictions. Each one of us can participate and respond to such news regarding our government, giving birth to democracy in the internet. The Internet became a gateway, like an open forum wherein it allows us to express ourselves with much freedom. Having the basic democratic right to react, criticize and challenge our government. Democracy is about people having their voice to criticize their elected leaders and observe what kind of work they do. That is why the internet is highly used in this generation. It became a path to say our feelings, emotions and our opinion in a particular topic that our country and government are going through. Power comes to the people up to the leaders of our country. Through internet use, our democratic right is now being used and gives high impact especially in other countries. The relationship of democracy with the internet is that it becomes an empowering tool to become more knowledgeable, observant and gives freedom to represent ourselves as a citizen in this democratic country.”

As per Ms. Guisihan, “We can do whatever we want. That’s the thing. That is what the internet made us realize that aside from what we call “reality” full of so-called policies and rules that is strangling us, there’s another world where we have the infinite freedom to post, to share, to search, to watch, and all other stuffs without someone preventing us. Democratic universe is what I consider internet is. As it has given us the power of freedom, however, there is us such thing we call “limit”, and we fail to be responsible and never been committed to a mindset that we shouldn’t be abusive to the things we can access. Have you ever realized that the internet has been giving us what we need? If we need to know something that is new to us, there’s Google and all other search engines. If we want to cook, however, not knowledgeable to its recipe and how to do it, we can watch it on the internet with all of these useful tutorials. Even socializing is cheaper; we can do it on Facebook or a dating app. Those are just examples and we know that we can do more than that. But there are abusive people using the internet beyond its limit and drugs are being sold online. Cyberbullying is rampant. Prostitution is also happening on the internet. We are all given the power to use the democratic universe; however, we have not learned yet that we should apply “integrity” to our own characters. We all know that what is abused will always be taken away eventually. When should we learn to have self-discipline and make this democratic universe a safe place to explore?”

As per Mr. Gatus, “The thing about the internet that interests me is the freedom it gives to the users. You can be whatever you want to be when you are on the internet. Almost everyone on the internet has a say about politics. Some users might be more involved on an internet debate about democracy than in real life. Some might actually think that they are more knowledgeable about democracy than other people. I think that we practice democracy more when we are online. I reckon a Latin phrase that says, “Vox populi, vox Dei” meaning, “the voice of people is the voice of God.” When citizens practice free speech online, they are practicing their rights as part of a democratic government. The more we express ourselves online, the more we practice democracy. I think that democracy and the internet are made for each other. The former demands audience, while the latter provides it. While all of them seem positive, I think that the major downfall of democracy on the internet is that the people may think that their opinion is the only opinion that matters. With the Senatorial elections coming up, the voice of the people will work again. The Filipino citizens will decide who to elect as Senators and other leaders. The internet will be one of the main channels for debates, opinions, and even rallies. I expect it to be messy and full of issue. In my conclusion, I believe that democracy and the internet work great together. We can freely apply democracy, and all shall be well, the only issue is the people using it, and the people abusing it.”

As per Mr. Bayona, “Using the internet can be both a blessing and a burden. Our free speech is somehow limited because of the consequences. Especially nowadays, the politics in our country is hot. It is somehow dangerous to say something bad about our government. Democracy is still alive but it may begin to disappear due to misuse of free speech on the internet. One of the good outcomes of democracy and free speech on the internet is the awareness about social things that are talked about in our time. The LGBTQ community, poverty, and the issue between neighboring countries, etc. are some of the things we knew and learned about on the internet.

In conclusion about the given topic, we think that it is good to have democracy in our time. We can freely express our feelings and we are more aware of the issues around us through the internet and netizens that share various news in it.”