I Am Blogie

Last 24 October 2009, during the Philippine Blog Awards – Mindanao Edition in Cagayan de Oro City, the Dabawenyo was recognized as a Globe Digital Tribe Awardee for contributions to the Mindanao blogosphere. This award is an acknowledgment of the recipient’s commitment to, and leadership in, the development of the region’s blogosphere.

I would like to thank Globe for this Award. It’s always gratifying when one’s efforts towards worthwhile goals are given public recognition, because it affords valuable exposure to the endeavor concerned. In this case, the Mindanao Bloggers Community.

I want to express my gratitude to the bloggers of Mindanao, who continue to inspire me to forge on in spite of obstacles along the way. My heartfelt gratitude also goes to my family, friends and colleagues for supporting me all the way.

Bob Martin

Two of my co-recipients to whom I’d like to give special mention are Bob Martin of Mindanao.com and Avel Manansala of GenSan News Online Mag.

Avel Manansala

I first met Bob and Avel (and his brother Orman) online, around 1997, when I joined the old Mindanao-L mailing list, which Bob hosted. This was way before the time of automated mailing lists. Back then, both of them opened my eyes to the possibility of using the Internet for spreading the word about Mindanao. In effect, it was Bob and Avel who planted in my mind the seed which grew into the Mindanao Bloggers Community.

The 3rd Mindanao Bloggers Summit, held in Cagayan de Oro City last 24 October 2009, despite a rather poor showing in the number of participants, was another feather in the cap of the MB Community. The CDO Bloggers group displayed their cohesiveness and enthusiasm and unfailing energy to pull off the event quite admirably.

The highlight of this year’s Summit was the involvement of the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy, Ms. Leslie Bassett, who delivered an eye-opening and inspiring presentation about the contributions her government has made to the progress of Mindanao. Ambassador Kristie Kenney, who is a blogger herself, graciously sent in a video greeting as well.

There were only about 80 Summiteers who attended MBS3 (not counting the members of the core group, organizers and speakers); however, it was good to see first-timers and bloggers from never-before-represented cities such as Ozamis and Dipolog. It is one of the objectives of Mindanao Bloggers to see more and more places in Mindanao become part of the Community.

Friends from Metro Manila graced the 3rd Summit, as resource speakers and as guests. We are ever grateful to Aileen Apolo and Janette Toral for the high-value content that they have been contributing to the Summit ever since its inception.

In behalf of the Community, we would like to express our grateful appreciation of the warm welcome extended to the bloggers of Mindanao by Mayor Tinnex Jaraula. The good mayor delivered a rousing speech about what bloggers could accomplish towards addressing issues affecting the Philippine South.

There were quite a few politicians who joined the bloggers at MBS3 — this was expected, owing to the upcoming elections early next year. It was good for the bloggers to hear directly from the candidates about their political platforms and advocacies. However, it should be reiterated that the Mindanao Bloggers Community is a non-partisan entity and does not endorse any candidate or political party.

PBA’09 – Mindanao

What made MBS3 unique was the hosting of the Philippine Blog Awards 2009 – Mindanao Region on the same day. This was the first time that the PBA has held a regional awards effort, and we would like to give honor to the Awardees:

• Uniquely Mindanao Blog: Hola Zamboanga!
• Mindanao Destination Blog: GenSan Online News Mag
• Mindanao Advocacy Blog: SOCSARGEN Peace Initiatives
• Mindanao Bloggers’ Choice Award: DavaoBase

Present during the Awards Night were PBA President Juned Sonido, and Coy Caballes, who directed all three Awards Nights (the main event in Quezon City, and the ones in Cebu and Cagayan de Oro). Also attending MBS3 and PBA’09-Mindanao was Jay De Jesus of TitikPilipino.com.

The next Summit

In order to apprise the assembled participants of the latest developments in established blogging communities across the island, four speakers presented the highlights of the past year’s activities in their localities. Dr. Jaime Haw Jr. did the presentation for Davao City; Avel Manansala for General Santos City; Ryann Elumba for the Zamboanga Peninsula; and Edu Ragpala for the host city.

At the conclusion of MBS 2009, the next host city for the 4th Mindanao Bloggers Summit was announced to a cheering audience. Zamboanga City will be the destination of the bloggers of Mindanao (and friends) in October 2010.

Kudos to the bloggers of Cagayan de Oro! And see you all in Zamboanga next year!

I’ve been traveling around Mindanao these past few months and, to keep myself connected to the Internet I’ve been bringing along my Globe Tattoo broadband device. No matter where I am, and even if I’m on vacation, I can’t imagine not being able to connect to my email, social networking services, etc., so I don’t leave home without my mobile Internet gadget.

The Tattoo conveniently connects via USB and installed without a hitch on my Windows7-powered laptop. When I plugged it in the first time, the modem’s connectivity software installed itself (after my approval, of course) and was up and running in no time at all. Connecting to the network is a cinch, too!

Speaking of which, the Tattoo will be able to detect signal strength as well as the availability of WCDMA or HSDPA in your area. For best download/upload speeds, make sure you’re in an area where either WCDMA or HSDPA is present. (Where neither is available, chances are, you’ll be glad you had Internet connectivity at all.)

I’m happy with the broadband access I get in various places in Mindanao: Davao City, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Zamboanga City. When I go and visit more cities in the Philippine South, I’ll surely bring the Tattoo with me.

The Tattoo is available as a pre-paid and as a post-paid service. I use the former, and I am charged on the basis of duration. I remember when Internet service providers used to charge on a per-kilobyte basis, which was OK back then because connections were still very slow. But now that we have broadband access, it’s very advantageous for users of Globe Tattoo to be charged on a time-connected basis. We can download (and upload) much more in a short span of time and get charged only for the duration of connectivity.

If you don’t have yours yet, check out the Globe Tattoo broadband gallery of products.

It’s my goal this year to travel to as many places as I can in Mindanao. That’s why I did not resist the desire to see Basilan once I set foot on Zamboanga City last weekend.

Going back to Davao, I left Zamboanga with a heavy heart, because my trip was way too short and there were still places I wasn’t able to see (like the Tree House in Pasonanca Park and the beaches of Sta. Cruz). And because I had a restful — and yet invigorating! — stay in Asia’s Latin City. Don’t you just love their city’s tagline?

Flying to Zamboanga last 17 October, it turned out I was on the same flight as Yolynne Medina and her husband. Upon landing in her city, she immediately set the wheels in motion to have my stay as pleasant as she could manage. I owe it to her — as well as to Ryann Elumba, Jerome Locson and the other bloggers — that I enjoyed my first trip to their beautiful metropolis.

What you’ll notice immediately is the city’s clean streets. The early morning of last Sunday, I strolled a few kilometers around the downtown and port areas, and I saw no garbage piled up anywhere. Oh, another thing I noticed: they have many Mister Donuts outlets!

Of course, I didn’t pass up the opportunity to try the famed Alavar Restaurant. There used to be a branch in Davao, but unfortunately they’ve long closed shop. When you go to Alavar, don’t make the mistake of missing their curacha in alavar sauce. It’s a deep-sea crustacean and the dish is to die for! Looks like a crab but the meat is much tastier.

OK, something more dramatic this time: el pueblo boasts of having the oldest bank in the Philippines outside of Metro Manila, and it’s the 2nd branch of Banco de las Islas Filipinas, otherwise known as BPI. (I have a photo somewhere in the album embedded here.) What historians will surely appreciate in Zamboanga is their drive to preserve their heritage. This is evident in their local tongue, which is a mix of Tagalog/Cebuano and Spanish, and in the surroundings.

For example, there’s Fort Pilar, home to one of Mother Mary’s many representations. It is maintained as a monument and as an open church. It’s interesting to note that both Christians and Muslims revere this place, because they all believe that the blessed Mother once protected the city from devastation from the angry sea. Too bad I wasn’t able to see the inside of the museum behind the fort. Next time!

Zamboanga City does have all the modern amenities, such as wifi access in many restaurants and coffee shops, HSDPA Internet connectivity via mobile, all the major banks and other financial institutions, air & sea linkages to and from a good number of domestic & international destinations, etc. Amid the modern, vestiges of the bygone eras are yet deeply rooted in the present.

Here are photos of my first-ever trip to Southwestern Mindanao.

The day trip to Basilan was a very welcome change in pace for me. Idyllic, fresh, quiet, peaceful — those were the words that came to mind the whole time I was there. People who’ve never been to Basilan hold the notion that it’s a perennially dangerous place. Well, we can’t deny that there were incidents in the past that have tainted the island’s reputation. So, I went there to experience the place and try to dispel this notion.

Thanks to my new friends, RJ Ian and his former student Faye, I was able to do a 5-hour tour of Isabela City and the outskirts of the town of Lamitan. The roads were cemented and well-maintained so the motorbike ride was not unpleasant. The views during the ride were breathtaking. There were the orderly rubber-tree plantations, the cool waterfalls, the mesmerizing undulating hills and valleys.

It was my first time to be in a place whose population has more Muslims than Christians. Contrary to popular perception (outside of Mindanao anyway), life in Isabela is harmonious. Christians and Muslims live together in the same space without any visible sign of conflict. There’s a church and a mosque less than a stone’s throw away from each other. There are murals showcasing amity among peoples of different religions.

To visit Basilan, it’s a good idea to have someone local to show you around. For inquiries, please call the City Tourism Office on these numbers: +63(918)945-7316 & +63(906)767-5735. E-mail address: isabela07_tourism@yahoo.com.

I’m so pleased I made these trips. I hope that, through my eyes, more people will come to appreciate that Zamboanga and Basilan are amazing and peaceful places. I’ll definitely be back there very soon!

I was in the cities of Zamboanga and Isabela from 17 to 20 October for a short vacation and to touch base with the bloggers there. Thanks to Yolynne Medina and Ryann Elumba, I was also able to talk to them about WordPress.

On 19 October, I was invited to give a talk at e.AXS Communications — Zamboanga City’s very first contact center. e.AXS is a wholly Zamboangueño-owned and -operated enterprise, which is very laudable on the part of its investors. Once this company prospers, they will pave the way for other BPO operators to come in. They are gearing up for SEO projects, and so they invited me to share my experience in SEO work. And since they are already offering website development services, I took the opportunity to introduce to them all about WordPress (and its SEO-readiness).

Ryann, a graphics designer, videographer and WordPress user, presented Hola Zamboanga! and his other blogs to the same group. It is our hope that more Zamboangueños will take up blogging using WordPress.

Some photos of the get-together, courtesy of Ryann:

In Isabela City, I was able to meet high school and college students from different schools, thanks to my host, RJ Ian Sevilla (who has promised to get a WordPress blog as well). My time on the island of Basilan was very limited (only about 5 hours), but I have promised to be back for a WordPress seminar in the foreseeable future. I am looking forward to that because I could see the excitement in their eyes when I told them about blogging and WordPress.

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I was very happy to have visited — at long last! — Asia’s Latin City (from 17 to 20 October), and to have touched base with the bloggers of Zamboanga. I’d already met some of them online (and two of them ‘offline’ during the 2nd Mindanao Bloggers Summit last year), but seeing them all together in their own milieu was most gratifying.

The Zambo bloggers started becoming active and participatory in the Mindanao Bloggers Community around last year. They even sent tentative feelers to the MB core group as to the possibility of their hosting MBS3. This is a clear indication that they could very well be prepared for the opportunity to host the 4th Summit next year…

Present during the meet-up at the Country Food & Tea House (excellent choices of loose-leaf tea, by the way) were Yolynne, Ryann, Jerome, Pics, Jet, James (aka “John Lazy”), Cedric, and others. Some of those who came had never before met their fellow Zamboangueño bloggers. And this is why I found the meet-up gratifiying: because there is an apparent willingness to strengthen the local bloggers’ group in Zamboanga.

I was also able to meet a couple of Tausug bloggers, and they told us that they have a very active group of about 50, and they blog about Moro and Muslim topics, among others. Getting to know them, especially Nur Danial, was an eye opener for me, and has made my resolve to broaden the scope of the Mindanao Bloggers Community even stronger.

We’ll hear more about what’s been going on with the bloggers of Zamboanga Peninsula from Ryann Elumba, who will deliver a report at MBS3. Ryann is the blogger behind Hola Zamboanga!, and the one who designed the creatives for MBS2.

Last 19 October, I also went to Isabela City, Basilan. Another first for me! I’d like to express my gratitude to Yolynne for introducing me to RJ Ian, who took the entire day off on a Monday to show me his beautiful city. Thanks to RJ, I was able to visit some schools in Isabela and encourage high school and college students to take up blogging. We certainly need more man-on-the-street accounts of what’s really happening on the much-maligned island of Basilan.

I’ll certainly make a trip to the Zamboanga Peninsula again soon and, God willing, for a much longer stay. I’d love to be able to visit Pagadian and Ipil, as well as other places in Basilan Province. I’ve visited Dapitan and Dipolog back in 1996, but going back to those places to get acquainted with the bloggers there is on my priority list.

Muchas gracias, amigos de Zamboanga!

I’m very pleased to announce that a regional conference of bloggers is finally going to take place in Asia. It’s dubbed BlogFest.Asia, and is to be hosted by the Dot.Asia Organisation (the people behind the .asia domain registry). This isn’t specifically for WordPress, of course, but I’m hoping to connect with fellow WordPress advocates and enthusiasts at the BlogFest.

Together with my good friend and fellow Filipino blogger, Juned Sonido, we will deliver a joint presentation at this milestone event. This wonderful opportunity is thanks to Mozilla’s Gen Kanai, who gave our names to the conference organizers. Mozilla was our co-presentor at WordCamp Philippines 2009.

Along with other representatives of their respective Asian countries, Juned will give a primer on the Philippine blogosphere, and thereby provide a picture of how active Filipino bloggers have been vis-à-vis the East Asian region. I will talk about a particular activity that has been close to my heart ever since the inception of the Mindanao Bloggers Community: Peace Initiatives through Blogging.

BlogFest.Asia will run from 5 to 8 November 2009, in Hong Kong. Many Asian countries are expected to be represented by their contingent of bloggers and resource speakers. I sure hope there’ll be more Filipinos attending the event!

For updates, you can follow @blogfestasia on Twitter.

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Arrived in Zamboanga City this morning. It’s my first time here, so I’m really excited about seeing the city. Fortunately, on the plane with me was fellow Mindanao blogger, Yolynne Medina, who has offered to take me around later in the afternoon. Also on the plane was the owner of the hotel where I was already planning to stay, Jardin de la Viña Hotel.

The weather right now is beautiful, a bit on the warm side, but the blowing wind from the sea is quite invigorating. Awhile ago I had a very engaging conversation with Yolynne and Mr. Eric Laviña II (the hotel owner) about developments in their city. A piece of good news is the establishment of their first contact center, e.AXS Communications, which is an entirely Zamboangueño investment.

This trip was a spur-of-the-moment thing. I’d long wanted to visit Zamboanga City, but had never gotten around to planning the trip. But last month, upon learning of an airline’s airfare promo, I decided to book my flights. And now I’m here!

As an amateur linguist, what’s immediately interesting for me here is their local tongue. Although they also speak Tagalog and Cebuano, among themselves they use Chavacano (pidgin Spanish). I can somehow make out what they’re saying, but the fun part for me is hearing them talk and listening to local love songs on the radio — the words and the accent are so different from what I’m used to in other areas of Mindanao.

I’m looking forward to meeting up with Ryann Elumba, Jerome Locson and other Zambo bloggers. That’s actually part of why I’m here — to help grow the Mindanao Bloggers Community.

More here and here.

Picobello Ristorante Italiano and Swiss Deli & Restaurant are inviting everyone to two weekends of Italian cuisine and wines with this month’s ITALIAN WINE BUFFET. You will be served the delectable masterpieces of guest chef, Massimilano Quarello of Torino, Italy.

From 15 to 17 October, the Wine Buffet will be at Picobello, at 5/F Gaisano Grand Citimall, Ilustre St., Davao City. For reservations, please call 221-1696.

At Swiss Deli, the Wine Buffet will be from 22 to 24 October 2009. Call 234-0271 to get your choice table reserved! At both places, the buffet will be on from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.

The Italian Wine Buffet will set you back ₱800 (per person), but it will certainly be well worth it!

Buon appetito!

Due to the recent — and enduring — devastation brought about by Ondoy (a.k.a. Typhoon Ketsana), in the news now, we see pleas for more awareness of environmental issues. We read about government being asked to be more rigorous and meticulous in public infrastructure planning, as well as in granting land development projects to real estate corporations.

It’s been said time and again, hindsight is always 20/20 vision. But now we have to try and look at the future. These appeals must be heeded by all concerned, because tens of thousands of people have already lost their lives to nature’s wrath. Due, in significant part, to massive oversight on the part of our decision-makers. Our past leaders blatantly disregarded environment-related problems, and now we are paying for their mistakes.

Our government must indeed get down to brass tacks and tackle the obvious issues: improper land use, clogging of waterways, garbage disposal, pollution….

But, amid all of these calls for government action, we must not forget that each of us has a responsibility as well. No one is free from blame: each of us has contributed to the tons of trash that find their way to rivers, oceans, valleys, natural parks. All of us have been unmindful of what progress has made us become: wasteful.

Enough said. Let us do our part then. Let’s recycle what we can. Let’s minimize waste, and do our part in saving the environment. And somehow, possibly, save the future from even worse natural calamities.