I Am Blogie

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.

DOT-11, for their part, is keen on encouraging the various regions to identify special-interest destinations which would receive special focus for promotions and development purposes. DOT-11 is mandated to take care of the Davao Region: Davao City, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur and Davao Oriental.

The summit was not all about what is or what should be. It was actually more of what we can and will do. Mr. Aportadera and Ms. Garcia discussed plans of action for the tourism industry, and appealed to media to help spread the word.

This summit also reminded me of MediaNation5.2, where media industry bigwigs discussed the Mindanao issue. At the Mindanao Media Summit, the discussions were more specific, and more ground-level. Media practitioners and tourism professionals from many parts of the island aired their views on the current state of local tourism and what they felt had to be done to help improve the current numbers.

It was rather disappointing, however, that the representative of national media, Mr. Fred Gabot, did not at all deliver on what he was supposed to talk about. His presentation was supposed to be on the role of national media in promoting Mindanao tourism. Instead, he attempted to give insights on what tourism in Mindanao is all about — something that Mindanaoans are aware of already. He also tried to get away with blaming local media for not doing enough to generate publicity for the island, ergo, national media could not provide column space / airtime for Mindanao news.

Wrong. At MediaNation5.2, influential media personalities in Metro Manila already admitted that Mindanao is not given enough column space or airtime because news emanating from the Philippine South was “not sexy”. But don’t get me wrong: these top-level people from national media were there in Tagaytay last August to help solve the Mindanao news issue. But the fact is, this isn’t a chicken-and-egg question.

Local media outfits do generate tons of content to help promote the island, and they are sensitive about portraying Mindanao incorrectly. However, it is national media that’s culpable in the misrepresentation of what’s truly going on in the South. For example, a local mediaman in Davao told the summit audience of one of his experiences with a Manila-based editor. He had written about the bombing of a bus in Digos; the bus was en route from Davao City. His editor changed the title of his piece to ‘Davao bus bombed‘. Why? Presumably because mainstream media thinks nobody in Metro Manila knows where Digos City is.

Then, in reiterating the importance of peace in Mindanao, the speaker flippantly voiced out his opinion about the “Christian-Muslim” conflict, that “our Muslim brothers should learn” about peace. There was a collective gasp in the audience when Mr. Gabot said this. Such glib statements are very irresponsible, and that was pointed out to him during my reaction. This goes to show how many people outside of Mindanao are grossly unaware of the real interactions and relationships among Mindanaoans.

Fortunately, Mr. Gabot did get one thing right. He encouraged the summit participants to consider the Internet as the next medium of communication. And this is true. Through the Internet, local media can bypass insensitive editors in Metro Manila.

The first day of the summit ended with all stakeholders in media and tourism signing a Manifesto of Support, which reads:

I recognize the importance of media, peace, culture and tourism in contributing to the improvement of the collective efforts and psyche of a people in promoting peace. In light of these trying times, I will endeavor to play an active role in promoting the diverse attractions and rich traditions of Mindanao and the rest of the nation.

I am cognizant of my professional and personal capacity to commit to help in the betterment of Mindanao, and I will use these gifts to speak the truth against biases and negative perceptions. I shall support efforts to promote true and lasting peace, and an appreciation and understanding for the intrinsic and unique culture of Mindanao.

By signing this manifesto, I acknowledge that every citizen can and must speak for truth, peace, culture and tourism. And I acknowledge that it can begin with me.

So help me God.

I signed this manifesto as the convenor of the MindanaoBloggers community. I am pleased to report that our group (as well as the concept of blogging) is now gaining ground in establishing a foothold on society as the emerging form of media.

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.

Cagayan de Oro City, as well, is back on track. Two years ago, they had an informal group already, but it fell by the wayside after the prominent members left for Manila and Cebu for work. But now, under the care of ChiQ Montes, they’re starting to form a stronger community. They even have their own Ning.com site: CDO Bloggers.

So, MBS3 will be a toss-up between Zamboanga and Cagayan de Oro. I shall announce the decision before the year ends.

I hope that more cities and/or provinces in Mindanao will have their own active bloggers’ groups. This will not only help us achieve our goal of projecting the real images of Mindanao onto the world stage, but also create an atmosphere of harmony and cooperation among Mindanaoans.

Welcome to the new look and feel of my personal blog!!!

I’d gotten tired of the old one already, although it did serve me well. Truth is, when I chose that old theme, it was simply meant to be temporary while I hunted around for a more suitable one. But my other blogs got more attention from me then, and that’s why that old theme stuck with Blogie Blog for quite some time.

The new WordPress theme that you see now, called Angel, is from Jai Nischal Verma of Blog Oh! Blog. He has quite a number of awesome packages for your WP installation. My favorite blog, Ang Dabawenyo, uses one of their themes.

Speaking of this WP theme designer, Jai is running a “mega contest” for bloggers. He’s giving away 10 Super Premium WordPress Themes, worth a total of $700! All you have to do to join this blogging contest is subscribe to his RSS feed, and post an entry about the contest on your own blog (make sure to trackback to his contest post). Good luck!!

If you’re the type who wants more out of your whole WordPress experience, some of the themes Jai is offering in this contest are really worth having. I happen to have one of his premium themes, but I’m not using it yet… I’m saving it for a future blog project.

So, how do you like my new blog design?

Ever since Matt started talking about the WordCamp Philippines 2008 T-shirt design, the buzz hasn’t quite died down yet, even months after the event. Today I got a trackback to the WCP site from WordCamp Ed D.C. (WordCamp Ed is an initiative that’s focused on promoting the educational uses of WordPress.)

The post is about their T-shirt design, which looks pretty cool actually. Then it says, “Who wins the t-shirt contest — us or WordCamp Philippines?”

It’s flattering, really. Andrew and I and the rest of the WCP2008 organizers take it as a challenge, of course! But a friendly one. Personally, this makes me very proud of what we’ve accomplished in the world of WordCamps.

I know this post is rather late, but I don’t want to pass off blogging about this!

The WordCamp Philippines official blog site was acclaimed the best website in the Events / Conferences category of this year’s DigitalFilipino Web Awards. Needless to say, I feel really proud of this award. It adds to the warm and fuzzy feeling I and my team already have for organizing a very successful WordCamp event.

Here’s the video of Winston Almendras, who accepted the award on our behalf, reading the acceptance speech I’d written for the occasion.

Find more videos like this on DigitalFilipino.com Social Network

Here’s the official list of DigitalFilipino Web Awardees:

1. Apparel / Fashion Category - Tesoro’s Philippine Handicrafts and Barongs
2. Art Category - Hiraya
3. Association / Organization Category - Information Technology Association of the Philippines
4. Auction / Shopping Portal Category - KabayanCentral
5. Automotive Category - AutoIndustriya
6. Beauty Category - Godiva
7. Blog - Corporate Category - The Belo Medical Group Blog
8. Blog - Personal Category - The D Spot
9. Blog - Professional Category - Tech at Hand
10. Books Category - OMF Literature
11. Community Category - TipidPC
12. Computer / Consumer Electronics Category - Villman Computers Philippines
13. Consumer Banking / Bills Payment Category - Philippine National Bank
14. Corporate / Professional Category - Syntactics
15. Events / Conferences Category - WordCamp Philippines
16. Financial Services Category - Absolute Traders
17. Food Category - Filipino Recipes
18. Games Category - RF Online Philippines
19. Gifts Category - Express Regalo
20. Guides / Review Category - ClickTheCity.com
21. Home Furnishings / Improvement Category - Philippine Interior Design & Feng Shui Tips
22. Jobs / Employment Category - MyNimo
23. Magazine Category - Candymag.com
24. Music / Movie/ Film Category - TitikPilipino
25. Newspaper Category - Inquirer.net
26. Pharmaceuticals Category - GlaxoSmithKline Philippines
27. Podcast Category - The Daily PCIJ
28. Politics Category - Filipino Voices
29. Real Estate Category - BF Homes Properties
30. School / University Category - De La Salle University - Manila
31. Services Category - Load.com.ph
32. Social Networking Category - GreatPinoy!
33. Tourism Category - Cebu CeBoom CeBlog
34. Travel Category - Philippine Airlines