One country, one blogging community: A Manifesto of Filipino bloggers and netizens (draft manifesto)

(Update: Tonyo Cruz already posted the manifesto in his blog where people interested to join can sign-up.)

Hi everyone. I am sharing the draft manifesto that Tonyo Cruz sent through e-mail for input (received mine last February 20). The idea with this document was for it to be posted online by bloggers, interested to be part of the group, in their respective blogs and tag others at the lower portion encouraging others to join the effort. If I'm not mistaken, this was inspired by similar call to action made by other groups when they were still forming their bloggers association.

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One country, one blogging community

A Manifesto of Filipino bloggers and netizens

March 1, 2011

We, Filipino bloggers and netizens from across the Philippines and those based overseas, coming from diverse backgrounds and specialties, using various new media outlets, hereby come together and call for the formation of a bloggers association of the Philippines that shall unite us around common and beneficial objectives and aspirations, mainly:

• The promotion and defense of the right to free expression
• The promotion and development of blogging, vlogging, photoblogging, microblogging and other online creative and expressive forms in all their diverse categories, topics and types
• The gathering and sharing of Philippine blogging’s best practices that reflect our contributions to ourselves and our online communities, media, causes, organizations and businesses, government, the nation and the world. 
• The drafting and adoption of a code of ethics that underscore the community’s responsibility and maturity; and
• The discussion of issues and concerns that confront the community and members of the community
• The promotion of more affordable, reliable and better internet access in the country  

The association we aspire to form is voluntary in character, national in scope, democratic in decision-making, and progressive in outlook.

• We draw inspiration from and ask the participation of the city-wide, provincial, regional and island-wide associations, summits and conventions initiated by bloggers across the country.
• We want an association that makes decisions based on democratic processes, consensus-building and mutual benefit.

A long time has passed since the first blog posts and first blogging events. We are now a bigger, stronger and influential community. Businesses, causes and government have started to organize themselves to interact and engage with us. And we also face challenges within and outside our growing community.


The Philippines, our country and people are also expecting more from us, and we bravely and fearlessly say that we want to do more and achieve more.


In view of all these and more, we declare that there’s no stopping the formation of a most awesome bloggers association for our country.


One country, one blogging community.


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By posting this manifesto on my blog, I express my desire to be a founding member of the association.


I also nominate the following bloggers to be founding members as well:


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Told Tonyo then that a website or discussion group link will be needed - where interested parties can go to help pursue the discussion in the group's formation. Content-wise, I think it is good.


Based on my discussion with Tonyo last March 3, he got mixed feedback through e-mail as well but one that stand out was the manifesto may not be necessary. Just let interested people sign-up and start with the discussion.

Hope you can give inputs on the improvements of its content (what to remove, what to add, or is the manifesto necessary). Thank you for your patience.

Related note:

• Frequently Asked Questions: National Bloggers Association and Professional Bloggers Association