The number of people reading, writing or talking about the automated election in May is rising but is still far from ideal. More people should already be discussing poll automation by this time. This is important because any and all possible issues regarding this should be ironed out before -- not during and after -- election day.

I'm not really surprised though by the apparent lack of interest. Filipinos aren't exactly known for anticipation. We're more comfortable just reacting and raising a howl over events that could have been prevented in the first place. Flashfloods and improper waste disposal come to mind.

Using the Keyword Tool of Google Adwords, I ran a quick check of searches for the keywords "poll automation" and "automated election" from the Philippines. Here are the results:

For "automated election":

For "poll automation":

Encouraging, isn't it?

Perhaps a little SEO experiment might help. Let's see if using popular keywords would get more people to come here and read up on poll automation. Here goes.

Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Gilbert Teodoro

Talk about keyword density. For maximum effect let's put up a picture of an abnormally popular personality.

Stupid measures for stupid times.