ABS-CBN, the Philippines’ leading media and entertainment company, and Facebook will see the culmination of months of working together May 9, as Facebook provides live social media updates for “Halalan 2016”, ABS-CBN News’ marathon coverage.

The effort is part of ABS-CBN News’ objective to ensure Filipinos all over the world are not just informed, but are also heard. On Facebook’s part, working with ABS-CBN is consistent with its core strength of harnessing conversations and bridging people.

Facebook will be providing summaries of real-time data culled from issues and candidates being mentioned in conversations on its platform. These may include what citizens are talking about on election day, and where the conversations are taking place. The data is aggregated and de-personalized, which means no personal data is revealed.

ABS-CBN Integrated News and Current Affairs head Ging Reyes said working with Facebook is in recognition of the fact that Filipinos have become even more active and involved in the upcoming elections with the help of social media.

“It’s important to highlight the conversations online, which represent the views of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos. Incorporating social media listening in our coverage is our way of showing that we value the voice of the people, especially at this critical time in our country’s history, ” Reyes said.

Ken Teh, APAC Media Partnerships, Facebook, said, “Facebook is the destination for authentic conversation about politics at scale. With over 229 million Facebook interactions on the Philippines elections by more than 20.8 million people, the Philippines has been one of the most engaged elections globally on Facebook. Our collaboration with ABS-CBN News has helped viewers engage in the elections conversation and give more voice to more people.”

ABS-CBN first featured Facebook data during its vice presidential candidate debate April 17, and a week later during the COMELEC debate mounted by ABS-CBN and its partners.

The “Halalan 2016” marathon news coverage will begin 5 a.m. Monday (May 9) on ABS-CBN and continue until 11:30 a.m. of Tuesday (May 10).

Filipinos can also experience ABS-CBN’s all out news coverage on its other platforms – DZMM Radyo Patrol 630 on radio; ANC, the ABS-CBN News Channel on cable TV; DZMM TeleRadyo on cable TV and digital TV; and online via http://news.abs-cbn.com.