The Use of Mobile Phones in The Philippines

Chapter 1

Introduction


It is sometime in May 2001, Joseph Estrada has just been replaced as the President of the Philippines.
In a police precinct somewhere in Metro Manila, a number of Estrada loyalists-mostly young men-are being charged for having committed various acts of vandalism during the riots that accompanied Estrada's downfall. Suddenly, one of them darts out of the precinct and makes a dash for freedom across an empty field. He is pulled up short by the warning shot fired into the air by a pursuing policeman. On being marched back into the office, the young man is asked by a TV journalist why he tried to escape. He replies in Tagalog: "I wasn't trying to run away. I was only going to buy a cellphone!"

General Aim

This project examines the use of mobile phones in the Philippines. Cellphones enable their users to maintain and reproduce existing social relationships in expanded spatio-temporal contexts. They are a...