Pinoys to join ASEAN bloggers confab in Kuala Lumpur
This is just in. No other than Tonyo Cruz and Blogie Robillo are in Malaysia. Let us see why….
Filipino bloggers Tonyo Cruz of Manila and Bloggie Robillo of Davao
City will join colleagues from across Southeast Asia for the 1st Malaysian-ASEAN Regional Bloggers Conference on April 23-24 in Kuala
Lumpur.
Conference organizers Blog House Malaysia invited Cruz and Robillo to
share their experiences in the ongoing attempt to form a national
organization of Filipino bloggers, and their insights on blogs and
blogging in the Philippines.
The assembly is set to adopt a Kuala Lumpur Declaration, affirming the
importance of free expression and free speech, and the need for ASEAN
bloggers cooperation.
In a blog post, Cruz gave a preview of what they intend to contribute
to the Kuala Lumpur meeting: “Filipino bloggers have much to share as
far as organizing events and blogging communities. Our social media
sphere, where bloggers play an important role, is growing at a
phenomenal speed and expanding its reach beyond our many niches and categories.”
“At the same time, we should also be aware of what our fellow bloggers
in the ASEAN are achieving and confronting. For in reality, our
freedoms Filipinos enjoy may not be available to them and we ought to
wonder how they are coping with or trying to change the situation,”
Cruz wrote.
Robillo adds: “We cannot take our freedoms for granted, and always be
vigilant to safeguard our freedoms to express ourselves. “
Cruz currently blogs for the Asia-wide news and commentary website
AsianCorrespondent.com, and is president of consumer and netizen
advocacy group TXTPower, among others.
Robillo led the founding of the Mindanao Bloggers Community and
organizer of the first WordCamp event in Southeast Asia.
The Philippines is considered as a social media capital in Asia, with
more than 20 million Filipinos online regularly on Facebook, hundreds
of thousands blogging regularly, and with a vibrant community of users
on microblogging platform Twitter.