admin | 
11 4th, 2009| 
I was there!
Last weekend (October 24-25, 2009), I had the chance to attend the Third Mindanao Bloggers Summit which was hosted by the CDO Bloggers (Cagayan de Oro Bloggers). Thanks to Paraiso Admin- (http://www.paraisophilippines.com) for letting me experience the Second MBS because i really looked forward that third. Now, while making this post, I am equally excited to attend the fourth one which will be held in Zamboanga City. I am not yet sure i could make it but am planning to really make it there.
The summit’s theme this year is: Mindanao Bag-uhon ang Pananaw. The organizers encourage each Mindanao Blogger to be an advocate for peace in here in Mindanao. We must emphasize or blog about the good things about Mindanao – great place, great people, great food, and etc. If this done, then we are sure that non Mindanaoans will surely see Mindanao in a different perspective. Mindanao cities and provinces will then be in the list of must-see in a traveler’s itinerary.
It was nice meeting the friends i made last year in General Santos City. Who would think that a 2 days affair can enable you to have a year long or more close bond of friendship. Thanks to Plurk, that was possible. And now, those plurking friends are now also my friends in facebook.
I arrived at the site at around 8:30 in the morning. Good thing the program has not yet started. Though the morning speakers were already around yet the registration was still going on. There were visitors from Davao, General Santos, Zamboanga Peninsula area, Iligan City, Ozamis City, and the farthest – Manila. There was one registrant from Manila. They said, he was the first one to register from bloggers outside of Cagayan de Oro City. His name is Alvin Tan and blogs at 7107 reasons (dot) com (7107 reasons to love the Philippines) He has not completed that much reasons that was why he attended the summit. I am pretty sure that Alvin made a lot of friends.
–this is Alvin in green flanked by two other guys are also new-found friends. Both are from Cagayan de Oro City. Francis in blue and Alvin in white. –
The morning started with the welcome note from the City Mayor, Honorable Constantino Jaraula. Followed by the message of the Leslie Bassett who also brought video greetings from the US Ambassador, Kristie Kenney, who said that Mindanao got a special spot in her heart. Congressman Ompong Plaza also gave his part. He got a blog himself. Then last speaker to grace the event that morning was the dashing youngest university president in this country, Atty. Adel Tamano, who spoke on Lessons on Leadership and Good Governance, his firsthand experience at Pamantasang Lungsod ng Maynila (University of the City of Maynila) as president.- http://www.plm.edu.ph
- Leslie Bassett, Deputy of Chief of Missions, US Embassy -Manila
- Agusan Representative – Congressman Ompong Plaza-
- Atty. Adel Tamano -
The afternoon was slated for more blogging stuff. There were 3 very informative speakers in the person of Ms Aileen Apolo who talked about Blogging 201, Ms. Janet Toral who talked about Effective Web 2.0, and last but not the least, Mr. Lyle Chavez who spoke about Make Money Online with Google Adsense.
After the sharing of tips from blogging experts, the reporting and updates followed from big groups like the Davao bloggers by Blogie Robillo, Gen San Bloggers by Avel Manansala, Zamboanga Pen bloggers by Ryann Elumba and CDO by Atty. Magman (plurk name) i forgot his real name. hahaha
The evening was slated for the Pinoy Blog Awards (Mindanao) and there were 9 awardees from this part of the country. I love the theme: One Blogging Nation.
- the awardees with their trophy awards -
The group was divided in two the next day as a blogger have two options – city tour or rafting. I chose city tour because the places we visited are places i haven’t had experienced up close. We visited the St. Agustin Cathedral near the river, the Xavier Museum, Opol Aviary, and then the last before lunch – the Divine Mercy, a pilgrimage of devoted Catholics.
Here are some more photos:
- the rafter’s ride to the rafting site. -
- – our meeting place was at Mc Donalds (Divisoria) which was just across the park where they put up a statue of the Mayor JR Borja. -
- side view of the St. Agustin Metropolitan Cathedral -
- – the impressive statue of Jesus. as what i’ve heard, only devotees and those who have made confessions can go up those steps to the face of Jesus -
Up there, the sea and sky view is breathtaking!
Thanks to the good weather. Our eyes feasted on a very beautiful view. I did not expected it would be that hot. I got sunburn on my upper arms and chest. I have no umbrella with me nor a bottle of water. It was really hot that i was so happy that the tour was over at exactly 12 noon.
Had lunch with the group at Tita Fannie’s. Then we said goodbye after eating. Last stop was at Lim Ket Kai and i had couple of hours going around.
I would like to thank CDO bloggers for being a great host for the event. You all deserve a loud applause and a sincere tap on your back. Thanks goes too to the major sponsors and minor sponsors, too. I know that without them the event won’t be that lavish. The sponsors were the: Novia OVI, Smart Communication, Havaianas – Spruce, Ultra Craft Advertising, Rafting Adventures Philippines, Congressman Rolando Uy, Cagayan de Oro City Government, Syntactics, OLX Classified Ads, MakatiAve.com, Province of Misamis Oriental, Magnet Advertising, Del Monte, Majesty Sales Center, Clara’s Shoppe, Asterisk Event and Communication, Loretos Bar and Grill and many more. I remember that you have to recite 5 of these sponsors and you can win a prize.
Talking of freebies – I was lucky to receive that Smart Laptap bag for posting the press release in two of my blogs. I also got those pins, the wordpress one and the Mozilla one.
It was another MBS experience worth remembering.
The last but not the least photo worth sharing is the group picture!
photo credits:
Ngitz of www.awatiro.com for the group photo & the top photo
Charles of www.charlesortiz.net for Atty. Tamano photo
Sunshineforlife for all the other photos
