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

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!

ICT Davao Inc. (IDI), the umbrella organization of all information and communications technology associations in Davao City, is spearheading a truly worthy endeavor to help protect the environment. Recognizing that its particular industry is a huge contributor to e-waste, this organization has mounted this campaign to hopefully stave off environmental damage. Such damage, caused by irresponsible dumping of electronic waste (junked computers, mobile phones, etc.), is already a global concern.

The proponents of this advocacy are currently campaigning for 10 million signatures. In order for our political leaders to pay attention to the seriousness of environmental problems, it is imperative that an overwhelming number of advocates join the effort. If you believe in this campaign — it doesn’t matter whether you’re from Davao or not — please lend your support by signing the online petition. Please click here to view the petition (you will see a link for signing near the bottom of the page). Leave your mark and be heard!

There is also a community site that details the advocacy, as well as a Facebook page. It would certainly help if you could display the badge below on your own blogs / websites:

Visit 10 Million Movement

If you take a look at the Facebook page, you’ll learn about the upcoming event, Davao’s e-Tapok e-Waste Collection Event, on 24 & 25 April 2010. I hope to see a lot of bloggers there — the venue will be announced on the FB page.

It would be very fulfilling indeed if this initiative were replicated in other cities of Mindanao, as well as the rest of the Philippines!

It was a well-represented group of concerned parties: there were delegates from mainstream media, non-traditional media outfits such as Mindanao Film & Television Development Foundation, government agencies, the Armed Forces, and from church and civic organizations. The objectives centered around how various entities communicated “Mindanao” to the rest of the world, and what could be achieved to improve this. Much like what was accomplished — or tried to — at Media Nation a few years back. But this time, the initiative came from Mindanaoans.

Supported by the Action for Conflict Transformation (ACT) for Peace Programme, the forum is also seen as a knowledge-sharing venue expected to gather communication practitioners of the various development programs in Mindanao and partner organizations working for Mindanao peace and development, as well as representatives of alternative media, such as bloggers and filmmakers in Mindanao.
(Source: Medco)

I was able to present the purpose and goals of the Mindanao Bloggers Community, and to interface with other organizations, such as Click Mindanao and the Young Moro Professionals Network for possible sharing of ideas and cooperation in joint projects in the foreseeable future.

Although the forum had been in the pipeline for sometime, it came at the heels of the Maguindanao massacre. And it was timely in that it addressed a pressing need to educate the rest of the nation’s communicators in the way they reported on Mindanao issues. In my view, I saw a somewhat more responsible national media — although there were hiccups, such as when a popular broadsheet printed “the lawless Mindanao island” — in its reportage of the mass murders in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

If the forum participants strive to forge on and see the goals through, the MINDPeace forum can be instrumental in influencing the way Mindanao is perceived from now on. There is a very big danger that the efforts of the MB Community and other like-minded groups in presenting a more holistic view of Mindanao, will go down the drain due to the senseless and deplorable crime committed in Maguindanao Province. But if we persevere, we’ll have a good chance of preventing another mass misconception of Mindanao’s image.

But more than that, the communicators’ forum was meant to be a significant contributing factor “to the ongoing formulation of the Mindanao 2020 Peace and Development Framework Plan, with emphasis on the role of media and communication, to setting the direction for Mindanao in the next decade.”

The MB Community, for its part, will certainly contribute actively to this effort towards peace and development in Mindanao.

The hideous event yesterday in Maguindanao Province has proven yet again how power corrupts the weak and the cowardly. It corrupts people to their core.

The Mindanao Bloggers Community condemns the perpetrators, those criminals, and their masters who allowed the massacre of innocent people. The bloodshed, we are all too aware, was meant as a ploy to spread fear. But we will not be trampled upon: our voices will be heard!

Here are a few blog posts that have come out to denounce the massacre and to call for justice for the families of those who have been viciously murdered:

http://www.gensantos.com/2009/11/24/in-memoriam-of-the-maguindanao-martyrs/
http://www.angdabawenyo.com/2009/11/24/be-vigilant-for-mindanao/
http://jodixa.blogspot.com/2009/11/maguindanao-massacre.html
http://tagadavao.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/manilenyo-in-davao-condemns-the-killings-in-maguindanao/
http://moncasiple.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/maguindanao-massacre/
http://newphilrevolution.blogspot.com/2009/11/datu-andal-ampatuan-suspect-in.html
http://www.uniffors.com/?p=3299
http://otsopya.multiply.com/journal/item/745/Maguindanao_Massacre
http://gandaeversomuch.com/2009/11/lungkot-ever/maguindanao-massacre/
http://www.thepoc.net/commentaries/3121-maguindanao-massacre-another-blow-to-mindanaos-image.html

There were delegates from all over Asia: Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, mainland China, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Myanmar. Conference participants were bloggers, new media watchers and influencers, even traditional media practitioners. A number of the participants became very interested in the Mindanao Bloggers experience, especially in the area of community building, after I delivered my Peace Initiatives through Blogging presentation (see below).

The gist of my talk was to showcase the fast-growing community of bloggers across Mindanao, and the objectives of the MBC. I related to the BlogFest.Asia audience that the point of our existence was not to help achieve peace, but to show the world that there is peace in Mindanao. That Mindanao is a vibrant place with a variety of cultures, traditions, histories and peoples. Interestingly, it was the process of community building that shone through for the BlogFest particpants.

In fact, community building became one of the birds-of-a-feather discussions on the second day. The Vietnamese delegates, in particular, were very interested in the Mindanao experience because, apparently, the idea of organized bloggers doesn’t seem to sit well with their government. Delegates from other countries also expressed varying degrees of difficulty in building bloggers’ communities due to government repression.

Another salient issue that seemed to be common to many was the problem of censorship, most outstanding of which is the ‘Great Firewall of China.’ Delegates from the People’s Republic related to us how challenging it was for bloggers and users of social networking services to attain freedom of speech in a repressive regime. And yet, China has, according to one of the speakers, millions of bloggers.

I was joined by Juned Sonido and Tonyo Cruz at BlogFest.Asia. Juned and I were recommended to the organizers by the Mozilla Foundation, Tonyo by GlobalVoices Online. Juned was supposed to have delivered an update on the Philippine blogosphere, but due to time constraints was not able to; he was, however, able to contribute during the ensuing discussions. Tonyo gave a very inspiring presentation on the contribution of bloggers to society when Typhoon Ondoy hit the Philippines.

During my stay in Hong Kong, I was able to touch base with a couple of non-profit organizations that could become partners of the Mindanao Bloggers Community in its endeavor to achieve its goals. Also, I was able to invite them, as well as the BlogFest delegates, to join us in Zamboanga City for the 4th Mindanao Bloggers Summit. It would really be a welcome and exciting development should our annual Summit become an international event in 2010!

MBC’s presence at BlogFest was, I believe, an opening salvo. There will certainly be more opportunities for us to become involved in more international events. Aside from the recognition that this brings to the Community, our participation in such events brings goodwill to Mindanao, and deeper appreciation of the beauty of our beloved island.

BlogFest.Asia was the first of its kind in the region. Kudos to the organizers and hosts for a wonderful and eye-opening experience! Hopefully there will be a second pan-Asian bloggers conference in another Asian city next year!

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!

“iBlogforPeace seeks to broaden the discourse on peace by providing an online platform for civil society, particularly the unorganized and the bloggers community, to take part in the conversations in their own contexts and engage in dialogues with kindred individuals and groups such as peace advocates. It hopes to help influence and change dominant public opinion and culture skewed towards armed and violent resolutions of conflicts and convey the urgency of fostering a culture where peace can thrive.”

Mainstream media, in struggling with the balance between fair reporting and “entertainment value”, fails time and again in portraying the whole truth when it comes to Mindanao issues. This is especially true when it comes to news coverage about conflict between Muslims and Christians, government forces and rebels, etc. This was the main point of discussion during MediaNation 5.2, to which I was invited to contribute my thoughts. MediaNation is an annual conference participated in by the country’s distinguished tri-media industry decision-makers.

Bloggers, through their down-to-earth and man-on-the-street reportage, are viewed as potential providers of the much-needed balance.

The objectives which led to the formation of the Mindanao Bloggers Community coincide with the objectives of iBlogforPeace. Thus, IID has invited MBC to be a partner in the iBlogforPeace initiative. Together, a greater awareness of the real issues — and hopefully, the real solutions — might be achieved.

Please help spread the word. You, the blogger, may take part by actively writing about peace, and about iBlogforPeace. You could also display the iBlogforPeace badge on your blog. When more people become mindful of peace initiatives and join discussions with a growing number of concerned individuals, sustainable progress in communities and self-determination of peoples will have a chance at last.

In attendance were GenSan’s bloggers, both seasoned and neophyte, all under the tutelage of Avel Manansala. It was a good group, coming from various age groups, interests and backgrounds.

I was able to introduce WordPress to the participants, and hopefully, allow them to appreciate the power and flexibility of this awesome blogging platform. Admittedly, at present very few bloggers in GenSan use WordPress. But after that first seminar, I am hoping that the numbers will increase. Especially that more and more bloggers there are getting into niche blogging and content specialization, I am counting on their looking to WordPress as their next publishing medium.

Lyle was “discovered” during the 2nd Mindanao Bloggers Summit last year in this city, when he was asked on the spot to give an impromptu presentation on Google AdSense. He is quite the speaker — very engaging and interesting. And so, I look forward to doing more blogging seminars in tandem with him in the near future.

I’d like to thank Avel for making the blogging seminar possible, as well as Coffee Club 101 for hosting the group for two days. This coffee shop is most certainly a blogger-friendly establishment — and serves quality coffee to boot!

Speaking of which, the bloggers of Cagayan de Oro are also conducting a similar event this week. Kudos to ChiQ Montes and her crew for this effort! Blog on!

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.

They’re a fun bunch, and they seem to have just the right amount of enthusiasm to be able to sustain their presence in Northern Mindanao. They were very eager to learn about the experiences of the Davao and General Santos groups. The CDO bloggers are rarin’ to be a much more active part of the Mindanao Bloggers community.

It is indeed remarkable that groups of people who are geographically, socially and even religiously disparate can come together as one cohesive community. Beyond the cities of Davao, General Santos, Zamboanga and Cagayan de Oro, other areas are now coming online: Dipolog, Malaybalay / Valencia, Kidapawan…. I just wish I could touch base with the bloggers of all these places very soon!!

The CDO group is obviously very excited about the prospect of hosting the 3rd Mindanao Bloggers Summit. Well, the core group of MB originators (Andrew, Ria, Migs, Winston and yours truly) are going to arrive at a decision very soon.

Cagayan de Oro is one very progressive city. At a casual glance, it’s very hard to tell whether Davao City is still in the lead in terms of development. Population- and geography-wise, Davao is still much bigger, but CDO is clearly making large strides towards economic and social progress. As a destination, the city of golden friendship is more than ready to host the Summit in October 2009.

Kudos and more power to the bloggers of CDO!!!