A FEW days ago, most of our Facebook accounts were automatically logged out as a security measure against a mysterious system attack on the social media platform. The incident came in a time when Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook team are being probed by US legislators regarding the privacy protection of its users. Obviously, the latest breach left most users to reconsider the role of the social media in documenting many aspects of their lives: “What if our accounts are duplicated for illegal purposes? What if the loads of gathered personal data are compromised and used to swindle us instead? What if we wake up tomorrow and find out that the thousands of pictures and digital memories that we have uploaded are gone in an instant?”
I have my Facebook Account for about nine years now – a half-hearted shift from Friendster (which is the bomb during college). So basically, the platform has 9 years of my life’s highlights; my college graduation to my first job, to past relationships/works, my present career, and recent role as a family man. FB has a third of my life digitally stored in their system, and just like anything that is precious, I wish for my data to be secured and protected. With the exposure of cracks on their walls, we might as well consider going back to the basics, or make a slight reversal to the trend of digitization – print pictures and store physical copies as a back-up, avoid posting/ saving too much information in social media, and simply, balance our screen times. If the ultimate truth suggests that “everything that has a beginning has an end”, then we should logically brace up for an eventuality of a life without facebook. *Sigh.
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Tourism leaders and workers will converge at Cagayan de Oro City this week for the annual ATOP (Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines) Convention. The activity will last for a few days and which will feature forums, tourism knowledge sharing and updating, touring around or near the host venue, and the most anticipated ATOP-DOT Pearl Awards Night. The Pearl Awards aims to recognize the best tourism practices of Local Government Units in the country. This year, over a hundred LGUs were invited by the organization for the said awards. La Trinidad, Benguet’s “Strawberry Festival” is among the finalists under the Best Tourism Event category. It is the first time for La Trinidad to participate or respond to ATOP’s invitation, and consequently pass the screening process to luckily become a finalist. Wish us luck!
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The La Trinidad Tourism week will push through on October 22-27, 2018. The exhibits of products, arts/photos will open on the 22nd while the business product development seminar will be held on the next day (23rd). The Coop Congress (of the Coop Month) will be on the 24th, while the 3rd Tourism Conference will be on the 25th. The Conference includes a benefit concert for identified victims of Typhoon Ompong. The week will end with a tourism-themed amazing race on the 27th entitled: “La Trinidad Eco-KulturaMazing race, and awarding of winners for the Photo Contest.