Mindanao Bloggers

My trip to Cagayan de Oro City last 7 to 9 December was very fruitful, as I was able to meet up with a good number of bloggers there. This is the second incarnation of an active bloggers group in Cagayan de Oro — the first group, the members of whom I met last June 2007, has unfortunately fallen by the wayside as those bloggers have either gone to other places or dropped out of the blogosphere altogether.

This group is now being led by Chiq Montes, who was one of the tireless volunteers at WordCamp Philippines 2008. Last 8 December, I also got to know Goma, Bang, Ding, Cloyd, Robstroy (who was also at MBS2), Amelia (whom I had already met last June 2007), and Mike Abonitalla.

The Department of Tourism - Region 11 (DOT-11) and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts last Wednesday & Thursday held the Mindanao Media Summit on Culture and Tourism in Davao City. MindanaoBloggers.com was invited to be part of this occasion, and I was asked to be one of the reactors.

The presentations by leaders in the media and tourism fields gave us a sense of what’s being done presently by both government and the private sector to promote tourism and culture in Mindanao. Davao City Tourism Operations Officer Bong Aportadera and Regional Director Sonia Garcia of DOT-11 apprised us of the two simultaneous programs for the city and the region, respectively. For the city, the City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) is championing the DaWOW! concept. It’s a holistic program that deserves to be pushed to the forefront of all tourism-related activities in Davao. Below is the presentation by Mr. Aportadera.

Patricio el Suplado

Philippines Ultimate Online Teen Magazine

Name: Patricio
Location: Davao City

Dahan-Dahan Lang

Entertainment News. Celebrity Gossip. Served Hot and Fresh.

Name: Dennis G.
Location: Davao City

Ever since the 1st Mindanao Bloggers Summit in October 2007, I’ve seen various bloggers’ groups sprout in different parts of Mindanao. Back then, there were groups in Davao and in Cagayan de Oro. Then General Santos, inspired by the Summit and by the activities of MindanaoBloggers.com, also got themselves and organized and were successful in their hosting of the 2nd Summit.

Now, Zamboanga City is seeing her bloggers become more cohesive, through the leadership of Yolynne Medina, Ryann Elumba and Jerome Locson (who went to GenSan to attend the MBS2). They’ve had a few meet-ups already, and hopefully I’ll be able to join in one of their future get-togethers.

Monkey Monitor

A Dose of Daily Experience, Captured and Documented

Name: Kristan Franco
Location: General Santos City

25th October 2008, General Santos City — the 2nd Mindanao Bloggers Summit was conducted and concluded with flying colors, thanks in large part to Avel Manansala and his team. The bloggers of Soccsksargen really made a fantastic showing! But let’s not forget that a blogger from Zamboanga City, Ryann Elumba, made a big contribution by designing the Summit’s creatives.

When I stood before my fellow bloggers that morning, I felt a swelling of pride and a sense of great fulfilment. MBS1 was a big success because it was the opening salvo. MBS2 turned out to be the affirmation of this fact: the Mindanao Bloggers initiative has become a true community.

Through our efforts as a community, more bloggers are now more aware of their unique role as messengers of peace and truth. Young Mindanaoans and (ahem!) more mature ones alike are all in agreement that there is a responsibility to present Mindanao truthfully and aggressively to the whole world via blogging.

We are really on the roll!

In their paper and online editions for today, October 22, 2008, both Business World and Sunstar featured the upcoming 2nd Mindanao Bloggers Summit, which is just three days away.

Thanks to my writer friends (and fellow bloggers), Edwin Espejo (http://eeportal.com) and Bong Sarmiento (http://bongsarmiento.com) for the free publicity.

For the Business World write-up, please CLICK HERE.

The Sunstar article on the other hand, may be FOUND HERE.

UPDATE! (8:15pm, 18 October 2008):  All E-passes will finally be sent to your email address by Kuya Migz on Monday, October 20.  Please refer to his earlier email to you for reference.   Sorry for the confusion.

Calling all MBS2 attendees!

Here are the rates of some of the hotels and pension houses in Gen. Santos City. We suggest that you book through us as early as possible so that we can reserve your rooms.

There is also another convention at the same dates as ours so we have to reserve our rooms fast!

Exactly a week to the day when the gates were opened for the registration of would-be participants to the 2nd Mindanao Bloggers Summit, a total of 70 bloggers have already signed up and submitted their blog posts or articles on the issue for verification.

About 20 of these submissions still have incomplete requirements and will be approved once they fulfill whatever were lacking on their respective posts and so only 50 bloggers were given the thumbs-up.

Please be reminded that we have only 100 slots available so that makes it only 30 slots still up for grabs until the October 11 deadline for submission of blog posts.

After the deadline, we will be EMAILING the E-PASSES of the 100 qualified bloggers to them which will grant them entry to the Family Country Hotel and Convention Center, the official venue of the MBS2.

For the list of the first 50 qualified bloggers to the MBS2, please CLICK HERE.

LAST CALL to those attending the MBS2:   We are closing the registration at 6am tomorrow, October 3, 2008. We have actually only a very few slots left. Congrats to those who made it!

Finally, the registration for the 2nd Mindanao Bloggers Summit is now open.

The MBS2 will be held at the Family Country Hotel and Convention Center at the Tuna Capital of the Philippines, General Santos City on October 25-26, 2008.

There have been a few negative posts that might shed a bad light on the post-WordCamp activity that we’re conducting, the Cebu Pacific Blogging Challenge. We, the organizers of WordCamp Philippines 2008, feel that our reputation might be at stake due to a misunderstanding.

This bloggers’ contest that we have created is meant to promote Philippine travel destinations, and this coincides with the objectives of the Mindanao Bloggers group. Please read our response at Ang Dabawenyo.

We sincerely hope this will clear things up.

Blog on!

The recently-concluded WordCamp Philippines 2008, the first international bloggers event in the country, was a success in several ways. Foremost is the learning that the participants were able to go through during the whole exercise. Judging by the blog posts after WordCamp, the campers certainly appreciated what they came for.

Second, it was a success for the Mindanao Bloggers community. Since the core organizing team held the MB standard high during the whole endeavor, MindanaoBloggers.com has certainly reaped more online visibility, to say the least. But more than that, a heightened consciousness of the existence of our bloggers’ community has been achieved. Ultimately, I hope that this will translate to an increased awareness of the real deal in Mindanao. I hope that more bloggers (and therefore their blogs’ readers) will come to realize that Mindanao is a rich and diverse and beautiful land.

I won’t forget that Matt Mullenweg said that he’d love to come back to Davao City. Hopefully, next time, we’ll be able to bring him to see other parts of the Philippine South.

Please read more about the success of WordCamp Philippines on the official site.

I would like to thank all the sponsors and volunteers who have made WordCamp in the Philippines a memorable and enjoyable experience! In particular, Cebu Pacific, for whom we are running a blogging contest called the Cebu Pacific Blogging Challenge. Check it out! You have a chance to win a roundtrip ticket!

In behalf of my colleagues, I invite you to join the Mindanao Bloggers in advancing the objectives of our group: to tell the world about the real Mindanao.

For the past months, our group of Soccsksargen Bloggers has been working silently together on the roadmap we have designed for the conduct of the 2nd Mindanao Bloggers Summit slated on October 25, 2008 in General Santos City.

We all knew that the first one in Davao City last year was a tough act to follow but knowing that we have got a job to do, we immediately started gathering a few volunteers, called ourselves the Convenors Collective and had a planning workshop courtesy of Hector Miñoza last 27 July at the City Mayor’s Office.

From that workshop, we were each given our individual chores and targets but not before we decided on the theme:  MINDANAWAN, PAMINAWON INTAWON:  Blogging the Mindanao Consciousness.

A series of email exchange followed including our decision to hold a BLOG SEMINAR on September 20 at the NDDU, in preparation for the BIG THING come October.  Spearheaded by Ariel Lalisan of Sarangani, this will also assure us of more participants from this side of the island on that day.

In between all these were a string of consultation email exchange with MBS 1 Team Leader Blogie Robillo and the latest, a personal meet-up over coffee at SM Davao.  In the end, he also gave his blessings on the tentative programme I showed to him.  Thanks Blogie!