Philippine Blog Awards winners pose for the camera.

Applause, cheers and the never-ending flicker of camera lights welcomed the country’s top bloggers at the 2nd Philippine Blog Awards held September 21 at glitzy rites held at 1Esplanade near SM Mall of Asia.

Some bloggers came in formal attire, while others came in smart casual wear, but no one seemed to mind. Everyone was up on their toes on who were chosen by the judges, mostly bloggers too, as the best across 36 categories.

A number of attendees twittered and plurked and liveblogged, while those who were not present watched the proceedings through webcasts.

Pinoys lead world in social networking and blogging

Thee awards immediately after the Philippine Daily Inquirer published a report noting the Philippines’ leading role in mass participation in blogging and social networking, outpacing most countries.

According to a study, the Philippines was No. 1 in social networking and No. 2 in blogging.

Most outstanding blogs

In quick-paced fashion, the following were awarded as the country’s best blogs for 2008 Gibbs Cadiz (arts and culture); Pinoy Web Startup (business); Creature Lover (commentary); The Professional Heckler, No Special Effects (food); The D Spot (family and living); Pinoy Guy Guide (fashion and lifestyle); Comicology The Study of Awesome (hobby and recreation); tonyocruz.com (news and media); Atheista (personal); lostphotograph (photoblog); The Bull Runner (sports); PinoyBlogero.com (technology) Ironwulf.net: En Route (travel); and CokskiBlue Pinoy Vlogs Videos and Vodcasts (video blogs and podcasts).

The Philippine Blog Awards expanded its categories this year and likewise recognized the best single posts across all categories.

Best single posts

Trophies were handed out to writers behind the following posts: EJ: Ang Pinagdaanang Buhay nina Evelio Javier at Edgar Jopson - A Review of a Rocking Relevant Musical (arts and culture); Ang Tibay Naman (business); The Problem of R.A. 9439 (commentary); Manila’s Movie Theaters (entertainment); Marketman Learns How to Make Tinapa from Scratch!!! (food and beverage); Me and Tia Inez (family and living); Camo Comes Out Of Hiding (fashion and lifestyle); Limatik (Blood Leeches): An overview (hobby and recreation); Confessions of a “New Media” Heretic (or, the jester in exile throws yet another gauntlet before the MSM “priest caste”) (news and media); Out of school, part 1: Forks (personal); Urban Cave (photoblog); garmin vs nike a test of accuracy (sports); The Making of Lakbayan (Part1&2) (technology); How I broke a ritual taboo in Batad (travel)

Special Awards

Winner of special awards were: OctTwelve (best blog design); Daily Top Ten (best plugin/extension); Una Wordpress Theme (best custom theme); Juan Mandaraog (best network blogger); and Samjuan (best OFW blog).

Batang Yagit emerged as the “bloggers choice”, outpacing dozens of competitors from across the country and garnering the highest number of endorsements from bloggers themselves.

Sponsored awards

Strong industry support for bloggers was obvious with booths and banners of sponsors all over the venue.

Event sponsors also handed out awards: Level UP! Gaming Blog of The Year for Just Perfect: Perfect World; Nokia Kaleidoscope of Connections Award went to “Kaleidoscope Trip”, “Messages With an Impact” and “Connecting People With a Push of the Button” (all Nokia award winners posted here); San Miguel Oktoberfest Best Blog Post went to San Miguel Oktoberfest 2008! (1 of 2); Geiser Maclang Special Award for Mom Exchange | Celebrating Motherhood; Blog Bank’s “Blogger, Not the Blog Award” to Arpee Lazaro; and Flippish’s Most Flip Vlog/Blog Award to PinoyPowerNet.

Keynote, closing speeches

In his keynote speech at the start of the ceremonies, Sen. Mar Roxas congratulated Filipino bloggers for their growing use of blogging as “a democratic, free and libertarian tool”, noting that the awarding ceremonies came exactly 36 years after the Philippines was placed under martial rule.

Roxas also expressed admiration for bloggers’ sense of personal responsibility and discipline, and their readiness to communicate with the world.

Speaking on behalf of organizers at the end of the awards rites, Jayvee Fernandez referred to the three head fakes of blogging, taking off from the story of the Randy Pausch of “The Last Lecture” fame.

Nomination, judging

Hundreds of blogs and blog posts were nominated this year, and it was left to several judges to find the best among the bumber crop of nominees.

Serving as judges for this year’s awards were: Aileen Apollo, Migs Paraz, Adel Gabot, Christian “Juan Ekis” Valles, Manuel L. Quezon III, Benj Arriola, Gang Badoy, Erwin Romulo, August Dela Cruz, BryanBoy, Ernesto G. Sonido Jr., Erwin Oliva, Ernie U. Sarmiento, Max Limpag, JJ Disini, Derek Punsalan, Brad Geiser, Analyn Jusay, Luis Buenaventura and Janette Toral. (TonyoCruz.com)

(Photo courtesy of Shari Cruz)

MS Aileen Apolo, who helped organized the contest and the party, listed the winners on her blog:

1st Place - Azrael Coladilla
Won a LCD TV

2nd Place - Gerry Alanguilan (the Komikero)
Won an iPhone

3rd Place - Coy Caballes

Won a Digital Camera

4th Place - Angelo Abrazaldo
Won an iPod Nano

Other entries are at the Buhay Coke Vlog Contest announcement video on YouTube. Blog posts about the Coke Party may be read on the following blogs: An Apple a Day, The Komikero’s Vlog about the Party, Azrael’s Merry Post, Jeric’s Post, The Diary of Joni & Anya, Halo-halo.ph

The petition requests Mr. Esperon to quit “for incompetence and unprofessionalism in threatening North Cotabato Vice Governor Manny Piñol that their province would be left unprotected once they get a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).”

As of this writing, the petition has 73 signatories.

Malacanang has earlier rejected calls for the resignation of the peace adviser, who is a former chief-of-staff of the armed forces.

Other winners in the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2008 project are Filipino Voices, a group blog on news and politics; Visit Sagada, a travel blog; Missing Carlo, a sister’s tribute to her brother who has autism; Mar Roxas 2010, a campaign site for Liberal Party Sen. Mar Roxas;

You Got Tech, a technology blog for non-techies; The Talented DJ Montano, an Australian’s controversial blog about his ex-lover; food blog Davao Delicious, which tied with Music Picks by a Music Lover Blogger in the eight place; Bariles Republic, a guide to General Santos City and personal blog Fritzified; and Bloggers Da Who, a blind item blog about bloggers.

This year's most influential bloggers with project organizer Janette Toral.

“I’m happy coz people recognized and appreciate our initiatives for the non-techies,” said Aileen Apolo, lead blogger of You Got Tech and one of last year’s top emerging influential bloggers. “After all there are more non-techie people than techies,” she added.

Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2008 is a writing project organized by Janette Toral of Digital Filipino. The project aims to identify “new and emerging blogs that are making an impact to its readers in 2008,” Ms Toral wrote on the project’s official site.

The winners, who were chosen by bloggers who participated in the project, were announced last night during an eyeball at the The Legend Villas in Mandaluyong City.

Manila Blog Times got the list of winners from the blogs of AJ Matela, owner of Bloggers Da Who, and Jehzeel Laurente of Jehzlau Concepts.

Slycesoft Games Development and Legend Hotels International Corporation sponsored the eyeball. (Photo from This year’s most influential bloggers with project organizer Janette Toral.

(Photo courtesy of Jay Frank de Jesus and Aileen Apolo)

Carlo Ople, Sen. Roxas’s new media consultant, wrote that among those who attended the launch were Susan “Toots” Ople, Noemi Dado, Lester Cavestany, Jester [Pierre Galla], Arbet Bernardo, Marck Rimorin, Juned Sunido, Sonnie Santos, Abe Olandres, Paolo Florenda, Ding Gagelonia, Gail Villanueva, Marc Villanueva, Ellen Tordesillas, Manolo Quezon, and Ricky Carandang.  A number of them are bloggers from FilipinoVoices.com,

Sen. Mar Roxas with Filipino bloggers. (Noemi Lardizabal-Dado)

Cebu-based blogger Kevin Ray Chua of Mar Roxas for President in 2010 blog was not in the meeting.

Mr. Ople said the bloggers represented ” a good mix of bloggers from various niches” and that “there were a lot of topics covered - from taxes, policies, and even the Batman ‘Dark Knight’ movie.”

Sen. Roxas also launched his Virtual Rally, an online protest site, during the event. The current e-protest on  Virtual Rally is against the value-added tax (VAT) on oil products.

On his blog’s first entry, Sen. Roxas said he “look[s] forward to exchanging views and swapping stories with you [blog visitors] through this precious digital space.” He also said he would also invite guest bloggers. He also commented on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s state of the nation address and the controversial expanded VAT.

Last June, priest-turned-governor Ed Panlilio of Pampanga also invited bloggers to the launch of his blog.

After consulting with other bloggers, he set a date for a mini-eye ball: July 27, 2008, 7pm, at Gerry’s Grill Megastrip in SM Megamall.

But that Sunday night, I was already so sweaty from walking around looking for Gerry’s Grill when I met the EB organizer.  Since we couldn’t find Gerry’s, we thought we should instead hold the EB at Dencio’s Bar and Grill at MegaStrip.

Pinoy SEO prince Marhgil Macuha and fiancée Shella Mojana — they’re tying the knot on August 8 — also got too tired and hungry looking for Gerry’s Grill that they already went to Pizza Hut. They were about to order food before they received McBilly’s text saying the mini-EB’s venue had been changed.

We also notified Allen Michael Gurrea and Fjordan Allego of the changed venue, and they followed us at Dencio’s. Our dinner — Bulalo, Sisig, and Kare-Kare — was eventually served.

We were almost done with the food when Ambo and his non-blogging friend Ronald arrived. McBilly wrote about Ronald: “We discovered how fun a bloggers EB is when you invite a non blogger. He was the butt of all the jokes! Haha. But Ronald was really cool about it. It was really a lot of fun! Haha.”

Marhgil was already conducting “free blogging consultation” when Jose Gabriel Diaz arrived. The latter got our attention with his online shopping and real estate tips.

The group had so much fun that at past midnight, a waiter had to tell us to please leave the restaurant as they were already closing.

Photos courtesy of McBilly. See more photos on his site.

We’re now back, and we will try harder to fulfill our mission to report on the Philippine blogosphere.

“Nominations for The Philippine Blog Awards 2008 officially starts today,” the announcement on the PBA website read.

This year’s awards are divided into three divisions — the Best Blog Division, the Best Single Blog Post Division, and the Special Awards — and 36 categories. The first PBA only had the main categories and the special awards.

Nomination forms are available at the PBA website.

WordPress founder Matthew Mullenweg in a blog entry atWordPress.org said the numerous improvements in this new version are almost entirely a result of the WordPress community’s feedback.

New features in Wordpress 2.5 include “multi-file uploading, one-click plugin upgrades, built-in galleries, customizable dashboard, salted passwords and cookie encryption, media library, a [what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor] that doesn’t mess with your code, concurrent post editing protection, full-screen writing, and search that covers posts and pages.”

Mullenweg also reported that WordPress version 2.3 has already been downloaded 1.92 million times as he promised additional features in the future.

“[Version] 2.5 is a major milestone for WordPress not because it added dozens of user-requested features, but because it reaffirms that we’re as passionate about blogging as the day we started. Our community is too fierce to rest on its laurels — contrary to what pundits claim, blogging is far from ‘finished’ and every improvement just whets our appetite for more. And more is coming.”

Villanueva, a senior film student and member of the Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity, received more than 2,000 votes. He ran under the Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights - UP (Stand UP), the oldest student political alliance in the university.

It his third student council elections as a candidate, and is his first as a candidate in the university-wide student council. After serving as the film representative in the College of Mass Communication Student Council, Villanueva ran but lost the chairmanship race last year.