Monday, November 03, 2008 Bloggers unite; vow to promote Minda's good side
AN ARMY of cyber nuts -- mostly young, hip and even outlandish looking -- has taken to form in General Santos City to "shut down" the elusive star that has stunted the full economic growth of resource-rich Mindanao for decades by way of blogging.
Dubbed the "Land of Promise," negative publicity has affected the whole island rooted in a conflict between the government and the Moro rebels, scaring away investors that would have transformed Mindanao as the "Land of Fulfillment."
Three Presidents -- from Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph E. Estrada and now in the end term of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo -- so far have failed to end the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest Islamic armed group fighting for an independent state in the southern Philippines.
Sporadic fighting has marred the peace process between the government and the MILF that started in 1997. In nearly 40 years of conflict, 120,000 people have been killed and two million others displaced.
Good stores are needed to balance the image problem that has continuously hounded Mindanao. This is what over a hundred computer geeks in the six-region island hopes to achieve after ending a two-day bloggers' summit here on October 25.
It was dubbed "Mindanawon, Paminawon Intawon (meaning Listen to Mindanaoans): Blogging the Mindanao Consciousness."
Bloggers can be a force to reckon with, outside the mainstream media, if they are bounded by a common cause, which in the case of the Mindanao bloggers is to foster peace and understanding in the island, thus paving the way for social and economic developments, these in summary were asserted by the various speakers.
"Good news [about Mindanao] often times land in the inside pages of newspapers but as bloggers it is we who set our agenda. We have the capacity to make a difference and could be a force to reckon with and hopefully through us the mainstream media will pay attention [to the good things] in Mindanao," said journalist Walter I. Balane.
Balane, a reporter of online news outfit MindaNews, said that bloggers can help explain other good things in Mindanao not carried by the mainstream media.
"It's time we act. If we will not blog about the other beautiful face of Mindanao, who will? Let's spend double time in finding for good news," said Balane who spoke on the topic "Voices from Mindanao Heartroots: Notes on Life and Living in the Communities."
But Balane said they should not forget too about writing about the bad news because these things really happen.
To bring these beautiful messages and get a wide readership, Oliver V. Robillo, one of the pioneers of the Mindanao blogging movement, said that bloggers should be serious about doing their thing.
"Make your websites more attractive. [In the future], hopefully when Internet users Google Mindanao, our blogs would appear and not that of the mainstream news outfits," Robillo said.
Blog, from web log, is actually an online journal or diary for self-expression that became popular several years ago but has now metamorphosed into almost anything.
"In the late 90s, it was a tool to improve writing skills," he said, expressing confidence that bloggers in the island would soon make a positive difference for Mindanao to further attract investments and tourists.
In a resolution, the bloggers believed that using the Internet technology could lead to social transformation given the island's diverse people, rich culture and amazing destinations.
"We have a common aspiration, and that is peace for Mindanao. Who wants war? I think nobody among us," said Hector P. Minoza, a United Nations consultant.
He suggests that bloggers in the island continue discussing and interacting with each other to promote the potentials of the island.
"By blogging, we are already doing something big for a better Mindanao," he said.
Pierre Tito Galla, a Baguio City-based blogger who was invited for an outside pundit's view of Mindanao, lamented that main stream media sometimes neglect to give the proper context to their reportage.
"For instance, the bombings that occurred in the past are not terrorism related but motivated by extortion. This must be clarified in the reporting," he said.
"As bloggers, we must give the proper context and there could be no limit to space since we could write all we want and post them in our sites," he added, citing the lack of time or space constraints in the mainstream media that result to good stories ending in the trash cans or in the inside pages. (BSS)
