The 5th Mindanao Bloggers Summit is, definitely and without a doubt, set for October 29 & 30, 2011 at Celadon Pensionne House, Iligan City!

    Sponsors had started to flow in as early as the announcement for Iligan city hosting the MBS5 was made, and they have been named as official partners and/or sponsors for the 5th Mindanao Bloggers Summit. Airphil Express, Solid Hosting, Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation of Iligan City, Inc., Iligan City Tourism Office, Iligan Computer Institute, and Third Team Media has joined in to make 5th Mindanao Bloggers Summit a success, and definitely more to come!

    Some of the invited speakers, namely Dr. Marilou Siton- Nanaman, Anna Oposa, and Janette Toral has confirmed and is scheduled to arrive to join in and impart interesting topics that revolves around this years summit theme One Green Mindanao: Mobilizing Bloggers to Promote Sustainable Lifestyle. 

     A City Tour has also been prepared for the participants on October 30, 2011. Participants will get to see the best of what Iligan City has to offer.   To REGISTER: Click HERE For updates and information regarding 5th Mindanao Bloggers Summit: Click HERE

 After detailed planning and numerous meetings, IBS Core Group voted to use the theme “One Green Mindanao: Mobilizing Bloggers to Promote Sustainable Lifestyle”.   The year’s summit will not only be a venue to converge Mindanao-based bloggers but also discuss issues on environment and to help formulate a better Mindanao through the promotion and the adaptation of a sustainable lifestyle.

 “With the prevalent issues on climate change, the Summit aims to promote natural balance and respect for the human symbiotic relationship with the Earth”, Ms. Yape stated.   She also wishes to invite all bloggers who are interested to attend the event and experience the vibrant Mindanao blogging community, and to share ideas and explore the potential impact of blogging and sustainable lifestyle.

MBS5 will have a pre-event activity Blogging 101 Seminar on September 22, 2011.   Among the topics to be discussed are the basics of blogging, web designing, online article writing and photography for the blogging enthusiasts and newbie bloggers.

As Iligan City has many tourist destinations the participants can visit,  IBS invites you to join the City Tour on October 30, 2011. One of the destinations to be visited will be the NPC Nature’s Park that houses the famous Maria Cristina Falls, for which Iligan City is famous for.

Updates on the details and how to register and participate in the Summit and City Tour will be released in the coming days.   You may register for Mindanao Bloggers Summit Email Updates at the  IBS Site or at the MBS5 Facebook Fanpage.   In the meantime, IBS would like to have your support by inviting your blogger friends to join us through your individual blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites account.

See you all in Iligan – the City of Majestic Waterfalls!

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Official Statement from Iligan Bloggers Society

Similar post published at: Iligan Bloggers Society

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Blogging workshop in Zamboanga City

The group of 20 students were invited from different high schools, with a few out-of-school youths as well. They were a good mix of Christians, Muslims and lumad (or indigenous peoples). They were all talented, eager to speak out and ready to learn. It was a pleasure talking to them about blogging and showing them how to go about creating their own blogs — although, as I expected, about half of them were already blogging on their own.

This activity was part of the seminar-workshop on The Use of ICT in Conflict and Post-Conflict Areas, organized by the Asian Institute of Journalism & Communication and funded by UNESCO. It was held at the National Computer Center in Zamboanga City, from 3 to 5 August 2011.

Before my workshop, each participant was asked to write an essay on peace: their own take on it and how they thought it could be achieved. I then asked them to post their essays on their blogs — here are some of them:

buildpeacethroughict.blogspot.com
peacetayodito.wordpress.com
soupforthebrain.wordpress.com
blastedbananas.wordpress.com
joan-pangan.blogspot.com
zcgirl.wordpress.com

A few of those young people certainly had unique and very thoughtful ideas. Listening to them, I felt that our future isn’t so bleak after all, what with future leaders possibly from among that group.

I do hope that more of such seminar-workshops would be held, and in other areas of Mindanao.

After the event in Zamboanga, I went to Tawi-Tawi. Although I had a different objective there, I had hoped I’d get to meet bloggers there. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to. Still, I did get to meet a handful of college students who were knowledgeable in blogging. None of them blogged, however, because they said they didn’t have internet connectivity at home.

Going around Tawi-Tawi’s capital, Bongao (which can be reached via Air Philippines from Zamboanga City), I noticed quite a few internet cafés in town. Some of the locals told me that, sadly, those places were used more for computer games than anything approaching educational. (This problem sounds really familiar…)

On the other hand, I saw a number of academic institutions on Bongao Island. Mindanao State University has a campus there, and there is also the Notre Dame of Bongao College. There’s even a computer school, called the Abubakar Computer Learning Center.

My wish is to be able to go to more places in Mindanao and spread the word about blogging and the power it holds for promoting peace.

Coral reefs are the habitat of a plethora of fish species and other marine flora and fauna. In simpler terms, they are the breeding grounds of the fish that we eat. Without their natural habitats, there’s a danger that the various kinds of fish that we normally see on our dining tables will soon disappear. Already we are noticing a decline in fish catch in recent years — with a burgeoning population, our country will suffer badly if we lose even just one source of sustainable food supply.

To help address this growing issue now called the rape of the ocean, a group of concerned environmentalists, bloggers, divers and IT professionals have formed the Save The Philippine Seas (SPS) movement. It is envisioned to be a long-term advocacy to foster deeper awareness of marine environment issues in order to bring about action.

The first major activity that the SPS team is undertaking is the Blog Action Day: Save Our Seas project. It is an invitation to all bloggers, Facebook and Twitter users, all netizens — to talk about the Philippine seas and the wonders that they contain, to start online conversations so that more people will know about the beauty and importance of coral reefs and other marine life.

The Blog Action Day is set for 8 June 2011, and is tied to the http://savephilippineseas.com website. Please read this article and register via the online form that appears on the site’s sidebar. If you don’t want to register, it’s OK, you can still contribute to the effort — just blog or tweet or plurk about your thoughts about the seas around you!

On Twitter, whenever you post anything about this or any related issue, please use the #reefwatchPH hashtag.

If you would like to participate in the SPS advocacy directly, we are in need of more warm bodies to join the ranks of coral lovers! Do get in touch with me and let’s talk soon.

Update

We now have a campaign badge for the Blog Action Day! Please check out the official announcement for the image codes that you can use to help spread the word.

Friends of Mindanao is a group of foreigners and their wives/partners, based in Davao City. They meet socially in each other’s homes and in local restaurants. They also organize group trips to explore other parts of Mindanao.

On the first and third Wednesday of each month they meet as a larger group to exchange news and information about living in Mindanao. They also from time to time support local worthy causes. All members have an equal standing, there are no officers and no membership fees – it is purely a network of friends who meet socially.

They have just launched a new website at www.friendsofmindanao.com and would welcome people who would like to give presentations to their meetings held in Davao City. Past speakers have included attorneys, officials from the Bureau of Immigration, senior personnel from Davao City Jail, talks from experts in hydroponics, vehicle licensing experts – and so on. They do not encourage speakers who merely want to sell goods or services to their members.

Contact: Adrian Jones
adriandavao@gmail.com

In Davao City, the Takbo Dabawenyo Takbo – Dabawenyo Freedom Run was organized by Holiday Gym & Spa (HGS) and the City Government of Davao, in association with the Mindanao Bloggers Community (MBC) and People’s Action Against Corruption (PAAC). The Davao Freedom Run project was given to PAAC and MBC less than a month before the run date, so it was fortunate that the city was already organizing one. In behalf of all the people behind the nationwide freedom run, we’d like to thank HGS and the Davao LGU for accommodating the Freedom Run and thus joining in the cause to remind Filipinos of the Edsa Revolution and its ideals.

We also want to thank the companies that wholeheartedly supported the event, especially Nature’s Spring Drinking Water, Google Philippines and Chevrolet – Davao. The proceeds of the sponsorship shall be contributed to the nationwide advocacy behind the Freedom Run, and that is to build classrooms for public schools.

It should also be mentioned that the Takbo Dabawenyo Takbo fun run is a campaign to promote a healthy lifestyle among Davaoeños. HGS has been conducting fitness programs in the city for many years now. And the City of Davao has always been in the forefront of health awareness campaigns. Speaking of which, the city is poised to hold its first ever Summer Sports Festival in April. Watch out for more announcements on that!

Hopefully, this won’t be the last Freedom Run. Together with PAAC, the Mindanao Bloggers Community would like to continue holding the fun run to give voice to the motto, “Run for Freedom, Run from Corruption!”

Today, Filipinos celebrate the 25th anniversary of the EDSA REVOLUTION, which brought the Marcos regime to its knees. On 25 February 1986, Filipinos peacefully won freedom from oppression and neglect by the conjugal dictatorship perpetrated by the Marcoses for two decades. Today, Filipinos can be proud of a legacy of revolution by peaceful means through People Power, the force that restored democracy to the Philippines.

(And as if in salute to the 25th anniversary, authoritarian regimes in the Middle East are falling one by one, each one through sheer people power.)

But after 25 years, how far have we really progressed? What has this freedom afforded us in terms of peace, development, unity, progress?

For 25 years we have endured incompetent, spineless, corrupt government officials, who have unconscionably squandered what the people achieved in 1986. We have had good leaders, too, but they were few and far between. We have even witnessed the likes of heroes in our midst, but their voices seem to have been drowned by the din of apathy.

Do young Filipinos, who were born after the Revolution, know why those of us who bore witness to the peaceful uprising are protesting against Ferdinand Marcos being interred at the Libingan ng mga Bayani? Do they understand our anguish over the absurdity and audacity of this demand by the family of the deposed dictator? The explanation should be simple: We revolted against, and ousted, an overstaying president, who plundered the national coffers and tyrannized his opponents. And now there are people who want him to be accorded state honors?

And since we’re on the subject of the Marcoses, what about Imelda? She has been convicted by the Supreme Court for crimes against the Filipino people. …What in the world is she still doing unincarcerated? Are we so blind?

Are we, in fact, not responsible for transmitting our history to the next generation? Twenty-five years are an awfully long time to still be at the bottom of the global socio-economic food chain. Maybe it’s because we as a people have such a short institutional memory, that we forget the lessons of the evil past and thus keep getting ourselves mired in it?

We are a free and democratic state today because of our victory on Edsa that fateful February day. We should forever remember this, lest we unwittingly allow a repeat of the Marcos era. We must not forget, because in truth, we are not yet free from the more insidious evils that plague our country. The 21 years in which Marcos ruled the country brought about a pestilence of corruption and greed, and this has kept our country ailing — economically, socially, politically. Even after 25 years, we are still “the sick man of Asia.”

Early this month, a group of politicians, public officials, businessmen, artists, activists, development workers, journalists, educators, from almost all walks of life, from varying backgrounds, religions and cultures, gathered as one in Antipolo City to re-imagine the Philippines. I was fortunate to have been invited to participate in this unique meeting of minds, called reImagine Pilipinas Bukas. We were challenged with this one question: After another 25 years, where do you imagine the Philippines to be?

Nobody expected to arrive at any prophetic answer. But after three days together, the achievement was clear: as one people, unmindful of ethnic, religious or whatever differences, we can again accomplish our common goals through people power. Not the ‘people power’ that was distorted by subsequent so-called popular uprisings. What we need to realize is that the Filipino people is made up of different communities with different belief systems and histories. But we all do call ourselves Filipinos, and we all do aspire for prosperity and well-being. We can start from there, and proceed with the goals in mind and the tenet of People Power in our hearts.

Maligayang bati sa kaarawan ng Rebolusyon sa Edsa! Mabuhay ang Pilipino!

Who can register?

Any past or present Mindanao resident who has a blog (WordPress, Blogger, Live Journal, I.com, Multiply, Friendster, Imeem, Facebook, etc. or a self-hosted blog) or even those who are interested to blog.

How much is the registration fee?

- There is a registration fee of P500. You can register at this link.

As a registrant, you are entitled to the following:

- Free MBS Kit
- Lunch and 2 Snacks
- Raffle Ticket
- Certificate of Participation
- October 31 Tour Pass
- More Freebies from sponsors
- 1st 150 registrants will receive 1GB hosting from Solidhosting.ph

How can one register?

Click this link to view the online registration form. After successful registration, you will receive payment instructions via email.

Zamboanga residents can also register through:

SEED INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTION
Maisha Building, San Jose Road, Zamboanga City
Mobile: 0927-4771210

E-LEARNING CENTRE
Telefax : 063.062.9927269
3F ZGU Bldg., Governor Alvarez St., Zamboanga City
Look for Yolynne Medina

MBS4 Updates:
- Discounted Accomodation
- I am attending MBS4 Contest

See you at the 4th Mindanao Bloggers Summit!

Original Rates (Peso)
ROOMS  -  Single  – Twin

Standard – 3,500 – 4,250
Superior – 4,000 – 4750
De Luxe – 4,250 – 5,000
Suite – 10,000
Extra bed – 500

More partner hotels to be confirmed tomorrow.

Contact Ryann Z. Elumba at 0927-477-1210 or ryann.elumba@gmail.com to avail of the discount.

The American Ambassador delivered President Barack Obama’s message, which reads in part as follows:

On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I want to extend our best wishes to Muslims in America and around the world. Ramadan Kareem.

Ramadan is a time when Muslims around the world reflect upon the wisdom and guidance that comes with faith, and the responsibility that human beings have to one another, and to God. This is a time when families gather, friends host iftars, and meals are shared. But Ramadan is also a time of intense devotion and reflection — a time when Muslims fast during the day and pray during the night; when Muslims provide support to others to advance opportunity and prosperity for people everywhere. For all of us must remember that the world we want to build — and the changes that we want to make — must begin in our own hearts, and our own communities.

These rituals remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings. Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity and racial equality. And here in the United States, Ramadan is a reminder that Islam has always been part of America and that American Muslims have made extraordinary contributions to our country.

It was good to have met new people at the reception, and it was heartening to touch base once more with old friends from the embassy’s Public Affairs Office (the good people who helped me prepare for my trip to the U.S. last January). I do hope to be involved with them again in future events.