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Bloggers Kapihan Leads Blog Action Day on Poverty in the Philippines

October 15, 2008
By E. Eder

Cyberspace group Bloggers Kapihan has called on Filipino bloggers all over the world to join the Blog Action Day 2008 on Oct. 15 by taking on the issue of poverty through text, photos, music and podcasts, video and microblogging.

The event website is at Blog Action Day 2008 where Bloggers Kapihan posted instructions and resources for interested bloggers.

Bloggers Kapihan created the Blog Action Day 2008 Philippines website as a contribution to the global initiative to discuss poverty in the blogosphere on October 15.

“On Oct. 15, we urge bloggers to unite and discuss poverty. It may be an essay, a story on how they may once be poor or their fears about falling to the ranks of the unemployed. It may also come in the form of a video or a podcast,” said Bloggers Kapihan crew member and journalist Anthony Ian Cruz, who publishes the blog http://tonyocruz.com, this year’s best news and media blog in the Philippine Blog Awards.

Cruz said that the Blog Action Day 2008 is open to all bloggers, regardless of age, gender and creed. “We urge bloggers to take time out to change the discussion and focus on Oct. 15 on poverty. Its a good chance to tackle poverty – its root causes, the solutions, and why we should put our heads together to have a poverty-free Philippines in the future.

University of the Philippines Manila debater Benjamin Espina, another Bloggers Kapihan crew member, said that “we bloggers represent the technological intelgentsia of this generation and events like the Blog Action Day empower us to amplify our pro-active stands and novel ideas across a wider readership.”

Espina, whose http://atheista.net won as best personal blog in the Philippine Blog Awards, added that “these types of activities help us capture the spotlight so let’s make the most out of it by writing about causes that all people should care about, like poverty”.

Another Bloggers Kapihan crew member, Philippine Science High School instructor Martin Perez, won the award for best single blog post in the personal category.

In its call to action, Bloggers Kapihan said that “poverty is a reality that we cannot deny. We see it everyday. Many live with and in it 24/7. The imperative now is to change this situation. The Blog Action Day 2008 is an opportunity to get poverty out from under the rug where the government has consigned it. We hope that through this renewed focus on poverty, it will be a new start to better understand and not hide it, to offer real solutions not fake ones, to salve the poor people’s wounds and not give them doleouts.”

According to Cruz, the group expects “a good number” of Filipino bloggers to answer the call for poverty-related posts. “We hope to infect the so-called intelgentsia, the thinking class who are all over the web, with a concern for the plight of the numerous poor and be interested in helping solve it. The event would then hopefully spur national reflection and action on poverty.”

The Philippines is now known in the world for its vibrant and dynamic blogosphere, with even journalists and Catholic bishops, government officials and opposition leaders taking on the habit. In one of the polls on social networking, Filipinos lead all Asians in blogging and in setting up social networking sites.

Non-bloggers may also join by posting comments at the website, said Cruz.

Bloggers Kapihan launched its first Blog Action Day event in the weekend of Jan. 19-20, with the theme “remembering People Power 2.”