A few weeks back, a Google Mapping Party (GenSan Mapping Party) was conducted in General Santos City with the Tuna Capital’s very active bloggers in attendance for an afternoon of fun, learning and advocacy.
But first, what is a Mapping Party?
A Mapping Party is a gathering where you invite your friends who have laptops to a venue with fast internet connection, and together, with the use of Google Map Maker and aided by an instructor, map out and name your locality’s streets, roads, highways, establishments, housing, etc.
In this case, Bariles, through his network of online journalists, the Soccsksargen Bloggers group, gathered 20 of the best ones from General Santos City at one of GenSan’s newer coffee shops, Cafe Amoree. Lending his expertise to the exercise if GenSan Blogger and UP Diliman student, Mikko Gozalo.
The Mapping Party lived up to its slogan “Mapping GenSan for the world: Now no one gets lost in General Santos City again!” by being able to insert more than a thousand names for the the map of the Tuna Capital collectively. It was one notable project of the Soccsksargen Bloggers and hopefully, will not be the last of its kind for their beloved locality.
Here are more photos to show for it.
"BLOGGER MIKO GOZALO EXPLAINING THE GOOGLE MAPPING PROCEDURES TO THE SOCCSKSARGEN BLOGGERS AT CAFE AMOREE'S FUNCTION ROOM"
"A CAMERAMAN OF ABS-CBN FILMS THE SOCCSKSARGEN BLOGGERS AT WORK. THIS ACTIVITY WAS FEATURED ON THE LOCAL KAPAMILYA NEWS PROGRAM."
"THE SOX BLOGGERS AT WORK DILIGENTLY ON THEIR MAPS"
"THE SOCCSKSARGEN BLOGGERS AT THE MAIN DINING AREA OF CAFE AMOREE AFTER THE GOOGLE MAPPING PARTY"
A million thanks goes out to the owners of Cafe Amoree, especially our good friend Ricky and his lovely wife and to Orman for facilitating their hosting of this first ever and historical GenSan Mapping Party.
Shout outs of gratitude to Ate Aileen Apolo-De Jesus for the Google shwags, to K101’s Kabayan Joe for the mousepads with wristrests and Mr. Mandi Nicolas for the Adobe Photoshop freebies.
And to the people of GenSan who are into mapping the city, and making it easier to circumnavigate, thank you for sharing our very own home with the rest of the world.
Posted by bariles On January - 19 - 201016 COMMENTS
Bariles, our beloved author of GenSan News Online Mag is taking some time off to celebrate his natal day today, January 19th.
He will be off partying with personal friends, childhood friends, office friends, Plurk friends, Facebook friends, blogger friends and forever-friends at his brother Orman’s mansion. Orman is the author of Ganda Ever So Much, a funny blog that is starting to make waves.
Right now, the Capricornian, who was born on the Year of the Tiger is busy preparing the venue hoping that his Potluck Party will have enough food and drinks for everyone.
By the way, since you are a regular reader here…. you are invited to the Party tonight.
Just make sure you bring something to eat… or drink… or both.
Posted by bariles On January - 5 - 201024 COMMENTS
GENSAN NEWS ONLINE MAG'S THREE AWARDS AT THE PHILIPPINE BLOG AWARDS MADE THE YEAR 2009 MOST MEMORABLE FOR BARILES.
Finally, Bariles is back after a hiatus of over a week caused not so much by the holiday “lazy virus” but by a “writer’s block” so powerful that it knocked out all his resolve to go back to writing, after living and eating like a boar during the long Christmas break.
Anyway, all that is past now and so with your indulgence, dear readers and subscribers, here is Bariles’ first blog post for the Year of the Metal Tiger, 2010,
For this article, Bariles reviews the year gone by, starting with this item, on the most read articles for 2009.
The Top 10 posts which received the most number of readers were mostly about Manny Pacquiao and his Family, including wife Jinkee, Second Daughter Queen Elizabeth and mother Dionisia. This just goes to show how even more popular GenSan’s former resident has become for the past year and with fame, he and his loved ones have become favorite subjects of cartoonists, caricaturists, photoshop artists and anime artists. And as a sort of tribute to them, this blog gathered most that it can find out there in the Internet.
Bariles has also noted that readers would like to peek into Pacquiao’s family’s parties and grand celebrations in General Santos City. This is the reason why his blog posts on the birthdays of the Champ, daughter Queenie and mother Dionisia also got a lot of pageviews. Bariles is very fortunate to have been invited to these events and was able to relate first-hand the star-studded ongoings during those fabulous gatherings.
II. YEAR OF AWARDS.
2009 turned out to be a Year of Achievement for this 2-year old blog about GenSan with its three awards from the Philippine Blog Awards for Mindanao, held during the 3rd Mindanao Bloggers Summit in Cagayan de Oro in October 2009.
These are the Chikka Reader’s Choice Awards for Mindanao (chosen by text voting); one of the 10 Globe Tattoo Digital Tribe Awardees; and, the Best Destination Blog for Mindanao.
One award was actually enough for Bariles to keep him going with his advocacy to promote GenSan but having been given three awards unexpectedly has made this a lifelong commitment… wherever this may take him.
III. YEAR OF THE BLOG CONTESTS
For 2009, we conducted a total of 8 blog contests, with restaurateur Mr. Michael Wee as perennial partner in most of them. Mr. Wee represents the new breed of entrepreneur in GenSan, young ,very dynamic and in tune with the times where Internet presence is now a necessity for business sucess.
GenSan News Online gathered about 250 entries to all these contests and the winners were given their very own row of choice VIP seats during the concerts. For 2010, Bariles will again conduct contests and promises to make them more exciting and with more prizes.
IV. THE YEAR OF EYEBALLS, PLURK FIESTAS AND SCHWAGS:
Now boasting of more than 160 members from all over the globe (from 83 in January 2009), 40% of which are the more active ones based in GenSan, the bloggers have been busy in a good number of gatherings, together with Davao Bloggers(Blogie Robillo, Lyle Santos, Brendel Balaga,Jim Haw,Angel Abella, Chattee) as immortalized in the following blog posts:
Two publications took notice of Bariles and this blog and exposed him to its thousands of readers. We have not even included the few times that ABS-CBN Socsksargen featured him in their news reports.
GenSan News Online Mag built its own Fan Page last year on Facebook. To date, it has over 1,500 fans, mostly generals, some of which are now based abroad. To check it out, log on to: www.facebook.com/gensannews .
VII. THE YEAR OF RECORD-BREAKING PAGEVIEWS:
For 2009, General Santos Online Mag received almost 400,000 Pageviews, according to the blog’s Google Analytics.
Next year, we are aiming for at least HALF A MILLION.
VIII. THE YEAR TO BE MOST THANKFUL FOR.
The year 2009 came and went by so fast and despite some issues on personal health and work, everything went better than what Bariles expected. Shout-outs of gratitude are therefore given to the following for making our 2nd year of existence more meaningful and eventful.
Bro, the Great Editor-in-Chief.
Orman, Bariles’ #1 Fan and Critic who has now become a well-loved blogger himself — www.gandaeversomuch.com/.
The Planetman who has been Bariles’ formidable companion throughout all his blog sorties, acting as photographer, listener and wake-upper when sleep takes over at the middle of an occasion.
GenSan News Online Mag’s 500++ subscribers.
Bariles’ mailing list consisting of uncomplaining friends worldwide who receive his updates everytime there is a new blog post.
Generous readers of GenSan News Online Mag who have touched Bariles so much with their personal gifts (George, Eve, Marilou, Ate Guy aka Mimi, Bobby, Lelen, Bambi, Ging and Roi, Ate Sen, Kimberly, Peng, Sir Ernie, Malou and Tito, Cecille D, Kuya Ely, and others whose names will be added here later once Bariles remembers them).
GenSan News Online Mag’s Contest Sponsors.
GenSan News Online Mag’s Sponsors for two years in the running:
Bariles’ close-knit blogger friends who have been his constant companions for the most part of 2009, sharing his triumphs and joys and giving him the much needed wind to spread his wings and fly even higher (flying fish huh?). You know who you are.
And of course to YOU, dear reader for always finding the time to visit this blog, leaving a note or two and telling other people about it. Thank you very much, Magandang GenSan and Happy New Year!
Posted by bariles On December - 14 - 200917 COMMENTS
One of the glossy publications published locally in Mindanao is M Magazine.
M Magazine is a monthly lifestyle slash travel slash outdoor magazine which has been running features on the Promised Land and the personalities who matter on the island. Only on its 2nd year, M or m, which runs the blurb “Live and Living in Mindanao” on its front cover has proven itself to be Southern Philippines’ social barometer.
For its latest December issue, it featured six Mindanao blogs, two of which were by bloggers from General Santos City. This is for a short feature they entitled,“wwow.Mindanao”.
According to its introduction. “Here’s one kind of surfing that needs no sun, sea or wet surf. Hit the techie side of the island and get awashed with these interesting sights, created by Mindanawons for the virtual universe.”
Then, it proceeded to name the six blogs including our friends Bob Timonera’s Kape Ta Bay; Blogie Robbillo’s DavaoDeli plus our very own “GenSan News Online Mag” and our sister blog “Ganda Ever So Much” (from younger sibling Orman), together with screenshots of the blogs themselves.
Noteworthy is Ganda Ever So Much since it is less than 4 months old and yet has reached quite a sizeable number of followers and dedicated readers due to the author Orman’s no-holds-barred style of spewing tales of love, laughter, and the latest on Pinoy Big Brother.
Below is a picture of that page from m Magazine.
"M Magazine's feature on Mindanao blogs, including two from GenSan - GenSan News Online and Ganda Ever So Much"
Thank you to the writer behind this feature on us and to the editorial staff of m Magazine. Mabuhay kayo!!
Posted by bariles On December - 9 - 200917 COMMENTS
With just a few more days before showtime, we are releasing the names of the winners of the “5 Reasons Why You Should Watch ‘The Next One-Sarah G Concert’ BLOG CONTEST!
"The Next One Poster"
But first, we have to thank our members of the distinguished board of judges who helped rank the best among the best of the sixteen (16) entries we received. Here they are:
Gilbert Yap Tan – author of “Know Read-KnoWrite“, a professor at the Mindanao State University – GenSan.
Dennis Gajo – author of “Cars Obsessed“, a blogger and educator from Davao City.
Brendel Balaga – author of “Blogging Frenzy“, full-time blogger and part-time nurse from Davao City.
Ark Hilario – author of “Hakuna Matata“, a USAID worker from Cotabato City.
Francis Sablon – author of “The Zion Travel“, a travel consultant and tourism officer of Koronadal City.
Marc Wales – one of the persons behind High Frequency Productions, a major partner of Dreamwork Ventures, the producer of the concert.
Orman Manansala – author of “Ganda Ever So Much“, a banker and Festival King of GenSan.
Bariles himself.
Unluckily, we had to disqualify one entry because he was not able to provide links in his blog article, one of the major requirements in the contest.
Here are the winners:
GRAND PRIZE WINNER:
Rosilie Lim, for her blog post entitled, “Why I Must Watch Sarah Geronim’s Next One Concert“, which took the top honors among 7 out of the 9 judges and even scored perfect “100’s” from two judges. For her efforts , Rosilie will receive the following, thanks to concert producer and restaurateur Michael Wee:
Two tickets to the concert worth P1,500 each (Courtyard seats);
One Gift Certificate from Grab-A-Crab Restaurant, worth P1,500;
Two invites to the opening of “Grab A Crab Resto” and “Coffee Club 101″ at Robinsons Place GenSan;
Meet and Greet Sarah Geronimo before or after the concert.
"The blog of Grand Prize Winner for South Cental Mindanao"
Winners may start getting their prizes from Bariles tomorrow, Thursday, at 1:00pm at his office. You know where it is. To all of you, CONGRATULATIONS! Hope to read your BLOGS about your experience at this contest and during the concert.
See you on Friday, December 11, 2009 at GenSan Gym by 7pm.
Posted by bariles On November - 27 - 200927 COMMENTS
As mentioned in an earlier post here, as part of PASKO-SA-GENSAN 2009, Sarah Geronimo is once again performing in General Santos City via her new concert entitled “Sarah Geronimo – The Next One Conert”. And just like the earlier contests run by GenSan News Online Mag, in cooperation withMichael Wee’s Dreamwork Ventures, we are again capitalizing on Sarah’s GenSan stint to launch the “5 Reasons on why you should watch ‘The Next One’ Concert” BLOG CONTEST.
.
"Sarah Geronimo-The Next One" Concert Poster
Here are the Mechanics to the Blog Writing Contest on “Sarah Geronimo-The Next One Concert in GenSan”.
Contest is open to all Filipino bloggers all over the globe.
Contest participants must be SUBSCRIBED to GenSan News Online Mag.
Contest participants must write a blog post on the subject, “5 Reasons on Why You Should Watch “The Next One” Concert of Sarah Geronimo in GenSan?”.
Contest partiipants could write in English, Tagalog, Taglish, Englog.
The blog post should contain the following key words:
GenSan News Online Mag, pointing to: http://www.gensantos.com/.
“Sarah Geronimo-the Next One Concert”in GenSan pointing to: http://www.gensantos.com/2009/11/19/sarah-geronimos-the-next-one-concert-in-gensan/.
“5 Reasons why you should watch ‘The Next One Concert’ BLOG Contest”, pointing to: http://www.gensantos.com/2009/11/27/5-reasons-on-why-you-should-watch-the-next-one-concert-blog-contest/
The blog post entry should also contain the names of the producer(Mr. Michael Wee), sponsors and other pertinent details about the concert.
As soon as your blog entry is published, please leave a message in this blog’s CONTACT FORM (above the header), and not in the MESSAGE BOX below. Write there the following info: Full Name, Blog Name, Blog URL and contest entry URL, together with other important info about you: (Sex/age/Address/school/Telephone #).
Deadline of submission of blog post entries is on December 4, 2009, Friday.
A group of judges will determine the best of the best blog entries guided by the following set of criteria:
Originality - 25%
Story Development – 25%
Quality of Writing - 25%
Ability to Engage the Reader - 25%
Winners will be announced in a blog post here to be published on December 8, 2009.
The PRIZES:
GRAND PRIZE:
Two Tickets worth P1,500 each (Courtyard Seats);
One Gift Certificate from Grab-A-Crab Restaurant (Robinsons) worth P1,500;
Two Invites to the Opening of Coffee Club 101 and Grab A Crab Restaurant at Robinsons GenSan, on December 10, 2009.
Meet-and-Greet Sarah Geronimo before or after her concert.
5 GOLD PRIZES:
Two Tickets worth P1,500 each (Courtyard Seats);
One Gift Cert from Grab-A-Crab Restaurant (Robinsons) worth P1,000 each;
One Invite each to the Opening of Coffee Club 101 and Grab A Crab Restaurant at Robinsons GenSan, on December 10, 2009.
Meet-and-Greet Sarah Geronimo before or after her concert.
10 SILVER PRIZES:
Two Tickets worth P750 each (Lower Box).
So what are you waiting for? Write that winning entry to the“5 Reasons why you should watch ‘The Next One Concert’ concert” BLOG CONTEST now and get your chance not only to watch Sarah Geronimo perform but meet, greet and maybe have your photo taken with her.
Now that would be something that only GENSAN NEWS ONLINE MAG can cook up, right? Gosh! What will we all do without Mr. Michael Wee, our generous and dashing benefactor!!!
The response to the contest was to say the least, better than he ever expected. Compared to last year, there are more entries this time, the messages are better composed and conceptualized and more personal in nature.
To guide him in his judging, he was on the lookout for the responses which not only touched him and inspired him the most but he was also partial to those messages which were able to encapsulate the real essence of this blog’s existence for the past two years.
In the end, all of the greeters are winners and nobody will come out of this unrewarded…. thanks to the generosity of our sponsors and donors, all of whom have also been part of Bariles’ success and have contributed to GenSan News Online Mag’s transformation into becoming one of Mindanao’s and perhaps, of the country’s most well-received blogs.
Marami pong salamat sa lahat-lahat!
And now, the winners:
GRAND PRIZE WINNER:
One (1) Free Day Tour for two to Lake Sebu, inclusive of lunch at Punta Isla Lake Resort; zipline ride and trip to the Seven Falls. Roundtrip transfer starts from Koronadal City to Lake Sebu. Sponsor: Francis Sablon of Zion Travel and Tours, PLUS
One (1) EAT-ALL-YOU-CAN Buffet at Arnevel’s Restaurant; and,
One (1) Gift Certificate from THIRSTY Juices and Shakes, Robinsons GenSan (near Mercury Drug).
One Free Slot each on a short course on either Photo Editing with Adobe Photoshop or Basic Web Design at ACLC College, courtesy of Atty. Rey and Maya Cartojano.
Ten (10) Tokens from GMA-8 Kapuso GenSan, through its manager Ms. Mariles Puentebella.
WINNERS: The First 10 Commenters on this Blog Post.
All the winners may claim their prizes starting on Thursday, November 19, 2009. Just visit Bariles at his office between 9am and 5pm. You know where it is.
For out-of-town winners, you may want them mailed to you or give them to your friends who are based here in GenSan. It’s your call.
Again, thanks for joining and CONGRATULATIONS!!!! MABUHAY tayong lahat! See you for the 3rd Blogoversary!!
Posted by bariles On November - 8 - 200957 COMMENTS
Today, November 8, 2009 marks a special milestone in the history of this blog!
It is the SECOND BIRTHDAY or BLOGOVERSARY of GenSan News Online Mag!!!!
Who would have thought that this blog would have gone this far since that time when a tech-challenged newbie blogger who called himself BARILES, first published an entry entitled, “Banana Snack Vendors at the Oval Plaza Court” in a blog he named as BARILES REPUBLIC, An Idiot’s Guide to Gen. Santos City?
The article contained a single picture of a young man buying turon from a vendor at the city oval plaza and about four sentences describing the scene. So far, it has elicited four responses from readers, starting from this blog’s very first commenter, Arfel Paqueo who was then and until now, a resident of Canada.
Bariles’ plan was to showcase, through the photos he will publish in the blog, positive images of his city and was targetting generals who are based outside of GenSan, mainly OFWs and people like Arfel, who have permanently moved abroad.
Bariles was also incharged of the news updates of the local government website (http://www.gensantos.gov.ph) which he felt was stifling since all he could put there was hard news and he could not interact with his readers. He wanted something with a personal approach and only a BLOG could do that.
"The old header for Bariles Republic's GenSantos.Com"
The little blog went on to be called Bariles Republic’s GenSantos.com and finally, GenSan News Online Mag.
He realized that he wanted it to be a Magazine about GenSan on the internet, where people can search for articles about places to go, dine, visit in GenSan and find developmental news and positive feature articles about the Tuna Capital. And with GenSan being the hometown of boxing champ Manny Pacquiao, it should also be a source of info about him.
"The latest GenSan News Online Mag Header"
534 POSTS & 11,000 COMMENTS:
For the past two years since he started his personal blog, Bariles, has single-handedly written 534 posts, and has received 11,032 comments from his readers. This doesn’t include the private email he received from all over the globe, most of which were messages of thanks and gratitude from people who appreciated the blog’s worth.
HALF A MILLION VISITS:
GenSan News Online Mag has also received542,267 visits since December 2007, according to stats released by Bravenet, an Internet visitor-counter widget.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION:
On its first year, the blog won as one of the TOP 10 Emerging Influential Blogs for 2008. For 2009, it garnered three awards at thePhilippine Blog Awards: the Readers’ Choice Award for Mindanao; the Best Destination Blog for Mindanao and one of the 10 Globe Tattoo Digital Tribe awardees for Mindanao.
"Bariles and his trophies at the Philippine Blog Awards"
Whew!
Therefore, in gratitude for all of these and in celebration of its 2nd Blogoversary, GenSan News Online Mag is running an ULTIMATE GREETING CONTEST much like the one during the first blogoversary.
Here are the mechanics:
Only subscribers to GenSan News Online Mag are eligible to join the Ultimate Greeting Contest.
Subscribers may post their Blogoversary Greetings on the Message Box below.
The most unique, most touching and most well-written greetings will win prizes.
Contest period is from November 8 – 14, 2009.
Winners will be announced on November 16, 2009.
The decision of the judges will be final.
Prizes are transferrable.
Here are the simple prizes:
GRAND PRIZE:
One Free Day Tour for Two to Lake Sebu with Lunch at Punta Isla Lake Resort. Package includes a zipline ride and a trip to the Seven Falls. Sponsored by Zion Travel and Tours owned by Bariles’ BFF Francis Sablon. Roundtrip transfer starts from Koronadal City to Lake Sebu.
PLATINUM PRIZES:
One Free Overnight Stay for Two with Complimentary Breakfast at Dolores Tropicana Resort Hotel, Tambler, General Santos City. This is sponsored by the Dolores Hotels and Resorts.
One Free Overnight Stay at Lemlunay Dive Resort, Barangay Tinoto, Maasim, Sarangani Province, courtesy of Miss Michelle Lopez-Solon of Go Sarangani Travel and Tours. (NEW)
GOLD PRIZE:
Three (3) FREE Slots for a Short Course on either Photo-editing with Adobe Photoshop CS or Basic Web Design at the ACLC College, Magsaysay Avenue, GenSan. This is sponsored by Atty. and Mrs. Rey and Maya Cartojano.
SILVER PRIZES:
Three (3) “Eat-All-You-Can” Lunch for Two, from Arnevel’s Restaurant, National Highway, GenSan.
One (1) “Dinner for Two” at Grab-A-Crab Restaurant, Robinsons Place GenSan. Sponsored by Mr. Michael Wee, owner.
One (1) “Dinner for Two” at Giacominos Pizza, Robinsons Place GenSan. Sponsored by Ms. Aymie Bartolome, owner.
One (1) “Dinner for Two” at Sunset Bistro, Robinsons Place GenSan. Sponsored by Ms. Petit Veneracion of Sud-An Resto Grill.
One (1) “Dinner for Two” at Orange Bistro, Lagao, National Highway, GenSan. Sponsored by Ms. Cathy Teng.
Thanks to all the friends of Bariles who whole-heartedly gave us these prizes. A few more will be added. But as for now, go on and start writing your messages right away!
Happy 2nd Blogoversary GenSan News Online Mag! We rock! We really, really rock!
The Philippine Blog Awards is a yearly event that aims to give recognition to outstandings blogs in but not limited to the Filipino Blogging Community since 2007.
For 2009, it adopted the theme: One Blogging Nation. For this reason, it included a search for outstanding blogs on a regional level.
Thus on the evening of October 24, 2009, during the3rd Mindanao Bloggers Summit in Cagayan de Oro City, it will hand out awards to blogs by Mindanaoans, chosen through text messaging.
So, if you are a fan or a friend of Bariles and like what he does for General Santos City, please vote for this blog.
To vote, user just has to text CHIKKARC M4 and send to 2929 (Only via SMART & GLOBE). You an vote more than once.
Deadline for voting is October 23, 2009 which is on Friday already.
SMS voting = 3 votes per SMS sent (each SMS vote costs PHP 2.50)
If you are out of the country now, you can still help Bariles make it by ASKING YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS back home to do the voting for you. Now, how’s that? Or else, if you have a roaming number, that will do.
Thanks to all of Bariles’ friends, fans, family, readers, and subscribers!!! I love you all!!!
REMEMBER: A vote for Bariles is a vote for GenSan!!! GO GENERALS GO!!!
Posted by bariles On October - 1 - 200920 COMMENTS
Isang tulog na lang!
With only one night left before the much, much-awaited “Air Supply in General Santos City Live in Concert“, Bariles is proud to release the names of winners to his contest in relation to this.
"The poster of the "What Air Supply Song Are YOu?" Blog Contest designed by Marthin Millado."
After posting the contest, Bariles religiously promoted it his Facebook account; in GenSan News Online Mag’s Facebook FanPage; in Multiply; in the e-group he put up – Soccssksargen Bloggers; in the Mindanao Bloggers and Pinoyblogosphere Mailing Lists; and, in his updates at his Friendster, Tweeter and Plurkaccounts.
This must be the reason why Bariles received 27 entries... coming mostly from GenSan, a few from Davao and Manila and one from Thailand....
Janette herself promoted it in her Facebook Pages too while Mindanao Bloggers Convenor Blogie Robillo wrote about it in his Blogie Blog, while another friend, Migs Hipolito featured it in Manilenyo in Davao.
This must be the reason why he received 27 entries (minus one from a judge who is not qualified, Orman of Ganda Ever So Much) from bloggers, mostly from GenSan, Davao, Manila and even Thailand!
The sad part however is that out of the 15 superstar judges who confirmed their participation in the contest, four were not able to finish judging the entries as they were all affected by Typhoon Ondoy. As of this writing however, they are all safe and sound with their families and are in the process of rebuilding their lives again. Thank God!
Aileen Apolo, Jay de Jesus, Migs Hipolito (who was in Manila because his wife gave birth, Congrats!), Winston Almendras promised to judge the next blog contest that Bariles is cooking up for the “Sarah Geronimo Concert in GenSan” though.
With that settled, here are the winners as picked out by superstar bloggers (who were featured in an earlier blog post) Blogie Robillo, Jehz Laurente, ChiQ Montes, Orman Manansala, Brendel Balaga, Michelle Lopez-Solon, Bro. Vince Celeste FMS, Mark Aethen Agana, Flow Galindez, and Ms. Janette Toral, plus Bariles himself.
"Mr. Michael Wee (extreme left), producer of Air Supply in GenSan Concert with Bariles and some of the winners of the Blog Contest, after the awarding rites at Coffee Club 101 on September 28, 2009. Photo by Hector Minoza"
Most of them were present during the Awarding Ceremony at the Coffee Club 101 owned by concert producer Michael Wee.
The Platinum Prize Winner is Rammyboi of Otakus Notes.
Rammyboi or Mario Pison, an I.T teacher at the Notre Dame of Dadiangas University, whose winning entry entitled “What Air Supply Song Am I?” was dedicated to his father, is only 23 years old.
He chose the song “All Out of Love” for his post which moved the 11 judges to to give it an average score of 91.91 points.
Rammyboi got 2 Platinum Courtyard Tickets, a Gift Certificate worth P1,500.00 from Grab A Crab Restaurant, an official Air Supply in GenSan t-shirt and a chance to meet the Air Supply duo after the concert.
The four Gold Prize Winners who will each receive the same # of tickets plus a P1,000 Gift Certificate from Grab A Crab are:
1) Atty. Jose Villanueva, of Comelec GenSan. The lawyer blogger chose the “Every Woman in the World” and pointed out his former girlfriend and now his wife plus his daughter as his inspiration for the post in his blog, Bottom Lines.
Lito dedicated his blog post to his sick mother.... A few days after submitting his entry, she peacefully joined her Maker.
2) Ariel Lalisan, a full-time teacher at Alabel Science High School, Sarangani Province. Sir Ariel related his story about a former high school sweetheart and chose the song, “Come What May” in his blog Homeward Bound.
3) Swexie Balucanag, a law student from Davao, won for her blog post where she wrote an open letter for her beloved. She also chose the song “Come What May” to encapsulize how she feels in her blog which goes by the name, Khakiness.
4) Lito Antoque, a hairdresser from Barangay Calumpang, GenSan, is an Air Supply fan ever since the soft rock duo broke into the consciousness of the Pinoys. He dedicated the song, “Lonely Is The Night” to his sick mother. A few days after submitting his touching entry, which he posted in his “A Hairdresser’s Blog“, Lito’s mother peacefully joined her Maker. Our prayers go out to her and to her bereaved son and family.
The next 10 GOLD winners will all receive two pieces of P1,500 tickets each, and they are as follows:
Gilbert Tan, an MSU professor who chose the song, I Simply Want to Give It All, in his blog, “KnowRead, KnowRite“.
Jinky Borela, a DOLE officer who told her love story though the song, I Am Keeping the Love Alive, in her blog, “Small Steps“.
Rosilie Lim, an entrepreneur who feels that “The Power of Love” is HER song in her blog, “Wacky Knit Kin“.
Eunice Miguel Aclan, of Bangkok, Thailand, who picked out “All Out of Love” for herself in her blog, “Nice Thoughts and Thrills.”
Rea Remigio, who’s working in Cebu, believes in the song “Two Less Lonely People” and explains why in “Confessions of a Gene-use“.
Lainy, a bride-to-be who swears on the song, “Now and Forever” in her blog, “Lainy’s Musings“.
Ric Dumalay, of CMO-SHEEP who dedicated “Every Woman in the World” to his wife in his blog, “Blagadaggg“.
Marie Borela, who’s studying in Ateneo de Manila, chose “Making Love Out of Nothing At All” and explained why in “Talaarawan ng Payatot“.
Lolli Agulan, a high school blogger from NDGSC in her blog, “I Am Loved“, writes about the song, Goodbye.
Jan David, a NDDU student loves “All Out of Love” and reveals why in “Si Juan David“.
To all of them, Congratulations!
But wait, there is more…
All the non-winning entries will not go home empty-handed and will receive ONE GENERAL ADMISSION TICKET each!
If that won’t make you love Bariles and Dreamwork Ventures’ Michael Wee even more, then let us all just go home and plant camote.
Again, thank you to all these wonderful bloggers who, by joining our blog contest revealed their hearts and souls for all the world to see. To them, our profuse wishes of good health, happy minds and fruitful affairs of the heart.
Now here is the You Tube video of ABS-CBN Socsargen’s news report by Anne Santos of the awarding. Thanks to Rammyboi for posting it.
And a million thank you’s to the AIR SUPPLY for without them and their songs, falling in love would be a drag. Believe you me.
Bariles is Tagalog word for “Tuna”, the primary source of income of the people of General Santos City which hosts 6 of the Philippines’ 8 tuna canneries and more than 80% of its tuna processing plants.
The city boasts of the only “Tuna Festival” in the world celebrated every September 5 in commemoration of its charterhood anniversary.
Bariles is also the alias of this blog\'s author who would like nothing than to write about his beloved city by the bay and share it with his kababayans from all over.
He has worked throughout Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea. Currently, he devotes his time, beauty, and talent in the fields of Communications, Marketing and Media.
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Bariles is Tagalog word for “Tuna”, the primary source of income of the people of General Santos City which hosts 6 of the Philippines’ 8 tuna canneries and more than 80% of its tuna processing plants.
