The very day the members of the Iligan Bloggers Society has been waiting for. Pat and I got up early so we could be at the function hall of SMC-HRM Laboratory before 8 o'clock in the morning.
Everyone got busy for the last minute review of their presentations and speeches. The tension we felt grew as time ticked and only a few guests have yet arrived.
Eventually, at around 10 am, the program started when the guests who are part of the program were already in.
Arlene Collado gave the invocation and I led the singing of the national anthem.
Richard Celeste welcomed the guests to the event.
And it was the first time I heard Richard give a speech. As a young toastmaster, it was a good welcome address. :-)
Lovette Jam Jacosalem oriented the guests about IBS and how it all started to be.
With her concise message and lots of pictures, I am pretty sure the guests understood pretty well what and who IBS is.
What are bloggers without their blogs? Richard presented the blogs being authored by some of the IBS members. He also spoke of the other Iliganon bloggers who are not yet IBS members. As well as a non-Iliganon (BobNewYork) who loves to promote Iligan ever since he visited the city about 4 years ago and kept coming back almost every year. (photo courtesy of Explore Iligan)
Prior to this event, the IBS members have already done some activities to keep us excited and enthusiastic and be able to create as many blog posts promoting Iligan as we can. One of the major activities was the hosting the Google Mapping Party. Lisa Marie Mirasol gave an overview of what Google Mapping is and what IBS had accomplished so far for Iligan City.
The major event that IBS will be doing this year is the hosting of the 5th Mindanao Bloggers Summit. This will be held on October 29, 2011 in Iligan City. Michael Lagcao gave the overview of what Mindanao Bloggers Summit is all about. He also asked for the guests' support for the summit. For the success of the summit does not solely depend on the members of IBS but as well as the cooperation of every stakeholders in Iligan City - the city government, the businessmen, the drivers and even the vendors.
(photo courtesy of Explore Iligan)
In behalf of Mayor Lawrence Ll. Cruz, Councilor Marlene Young gave an inspirational message. It's heartwarming to hear her say that we, the IBS members, don't need her inspirational message, for we indeed inspire them with what we have done for Iligan City and will be doing in the future. Thanks Mam Marlene for the kind words.
The most important part of the event was the induction of officers of the Iligan Bloggers Society. We were inducted by Madam Queenie B. Picardal, the daughter of Congressman Vicente "Varf" Belmonte, Jr. She represented her father for the Congressman was very busy with other appointments.
(photo courtesy of Explore Iligan)
Charmaine Xy-Za Yape, as the inducted Executive Director of Iligan Bloggers Society, gave her acceptance speech. She said, "The first set of officers will be carrying with me the torch of the organization and we'll be setting the standards of what a blogger society should be." And Xy-Za ended her speech with "Not everyone in the Society are born Iliganon. I, myself, is not a born Iliganon. But, I blog Iligan and I "heart" Iligan." Woohoo. Very well said. I hope IBS could become an inspiration to the other residents of Iligan to be proud of and promote Iligan to the rest of the world instead of writing negative things about her.
One of the highlights of the event was the awarding of winners of the MyIligan Blogging Contest organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation of Iligan, Inc. Michael Lagcao announced the winners together with Ms. Emily Pascua, President of CCIFII, Mr. George Hamoy, member of the Board of Directors, and Mr. Sol Erwin Diaz, one of the sponsors for the prizes. There were 6 finalists and I was happy to be one of them. :-) The winners are : Lisa Marie Mirasol (1st prize), Charmaine Xy-Za Yape (2nd prize) and Lovette Jam Jacosalem (3rd prize). My congratulations to them for a job well done.
Ms. Emily Pascua, President of CCIFII, also gave a message to the IBS members.
Madam Queenie B. Picardal delivered the message of Congressman Varf Belmonte for us IBS members.
I was so caught up listening to the message of Sir Varf. A few statements caught my attention. The first states, "May I extend then my hand in partnership to the Iligan Bloggers Society as we walk the path of development. Congratulations and may your tribe increase." Wohooo! And the other statement, "I am one with you in this aspiration of bringing out the best of our city and it's constituents specially the youth. I am very proud that through your organization, the Lone District of Iligan City will be able to facilitate in uniting Mindanao and showing to the rest of the country that One Mindanao is indeed possible." Wow. That sure made my day. And sure one big responsibility for an organization.
A photo of the IBS members with Madam Queenie, Ms. Emily, Councilor Marlene, Mr. Sol Diaz, Ms. Cathy Tan (manager of Cheding's Peanuts), Ms. Agnes Maingat (City Tourism Officer), and Mr. Doodz Dalangin (representing Vice Mayor Henry Dy)
I thank all the guests who have graced our launching and induction of officers. Without their presence it would have not been a success.
And not to forget, Lisa Marie Mirasol and Alexander Singcol. What would the program be without the Masters of Ceremony? It was a job well done for both of them. Even with the tension and nervousness, they did well.
And with that, August 26, 2011 becomes a historic day for the members of the Iligan Bloggers Society. Now IBS is officially an organization who will not tire promoting Iligan to the rest of the Philippines and the world.
Congratulations IBS! Am proud to be one of them. :-)
PS. August 26 is a Friday. And what am I doing there instead of being in the office? As usual, I took a leave of absence from work. Of course, it's an IBS activity and a historic one at that. A launching of IBS only happens once. I wouldn't dare to miss it, hehehe. And thanks to my boss, Archt. Gil R. Balondo, for allowing me to take a leave and for being there to show his support to IBS. :-)
Woot! Congrats to us! Woohooooo!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this wonderfully illustrated report of the official inauguration of officers and the official launch of the " Iligan Bloggers Society ". As all of you were in my thoughts at the time this event took place, I thank you for including me even though I could not be there in person.
ReplyDeleteSomething like this is why I value so much of the information put on the internet by Iliganons. If I were to access this blog from an internet cafe in Iligan or on the WiFi in an Iligan coffee shop, I have the same access from home, half way around the world. Informative presentations as you have shown here give me a way to be there, without being there in person which is something I enjoy very much.
The professionalism shown by members of the "Iligan Bloggers Society " in this presentation indicates all of you are off to a great start !
Congratulations !
Hi Bob!
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome. I try my best to write what transpired during events so that the reader would feel like he was also there. :-)
Thank you very much for the appreciation and the support you show to IBS and to our individual blogs. You are ... simply amazing. :-)
Yes Jam, congrats to us gyud!
ReplyDeleteMore years for IBS, more events, more activities and most especially, more fun! :-)