The Philippine Online Chronicles

I never thought of our title or label.  Official SONA bloggers?   That's what I read in Twitter. Apparently, ANC featured our twitpics on live TV just before the State of the Nation Address (SONA), showing how full our press center was, the mess under our table, our poses,and other photos.

@fatanghiro23 tweeted

“I have to say, I'm proud that there are now official SONA bloggers, @momblogger and @philippinebeat. Here's to the new media.:)”.

Blog Watch's media accreditation to the State of the Nation Address (SONA) provided  limited access  for security reasons.  Most of us except Peter Baltazar of Creativoices.com (our photographer with access to the second  gallery landing) were restricted to  the cordoned area of the Main Lobby (ML) or Lobby (L) . I knew that our coverage will be limited to photo essays, short videos, and commentaries. I am sure you are curious how we managed to pull it off despite our limitations.

This was where I brought my lightweight gadgets : the flip video camera, the Canon SX 210 with 14 X zoom, audio recorder, mobile power pack for extra power for my iPhone, and a small Dell netbook. All of these underwent inspection and a neon-green sticker attached to it.

The press room beside the Plenary hall was packed.  WIFI connection was spotty that I often used my iPhone as backup.  Readers of Blog Watch looked forward to our tweets. One said that he was lazy to watch TV. Others wanted to hear our opinions on the SONA.

Sonnie Santos, Pocholo Gonzales and Peter Baltazar stayed at the less crowded media center at the Mitra Hall.

In the morning, we were able to cover the first  regular session of the 15th Congress. Media was required to wear Filipiniana so by 2:00PM, we were dressed and ready to take photos.

Hoping to get photos at the main lobby, I was disappointed that our cordoned area was just too far from the center.

Some of us didn't know that though.  Security called our attention that we were right smack at the red carpet, in full view of TV cameras. Oops.

Armed with a mono-tripod, Pocholo took  video coverage of the scene unfolding at the main lobby and of us taking photos, or twittering.

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View other videos  of the TV networks at work

Jane Uymatiao got the chance to interview Secretary Rogelio Singson and Etta Rosales. Wenchie Sabban, with access to the gallery as a guest of a House Representative took photos of the fashionistas and other important guests.

I thought that it was best to move to the other lobby where it wasn't crowded.  This was an opportunity to take photos of the guests arriving in Filipiniana.

That's how it went. Sometimes, I 'd scurry to the lobby of the North Wing and join Dine just to take photos, only to be chastised by security to move to the other side. Imagine, running in a gown with heels just to scoop a photo.  Security was polite and firm , doing their jobs. From what I hear from media covering the Congress beat, this is the first time they have encountered such strict security in a SONA. Is there really a threat to President Noynoy Aquino? My parking slot was quite far from the main gate that  I had to take a tricycle . I digress.

Seeing it was futile to cover the main lobby and lobby areas, I thought it best to move to the crowded press room to do some live tweeting.  Twitter followers were interested to read our observations and opinions.  I tweeted "will the anticipated shock happen? I am not shocked anymore. Let's get to work"

It was amazing to see the positive changes in President Aquino as he delivered his SONA.  We had interviewed him last January and that time, Noynoy seemed undecisive and spoke in a circuitous manner. You can even listen to him speak in our video interview. That afternoon, President Aquino spoke with confidence and conviction. Blog Watch kept a list of his promises and though he reiterated some of his campaign promises, it was disappointing that the Freedom of Information bill was not mentioned. This bill plays a crucial role in enabling a government that is inclusive, transparent and accountable..

It was commendable that the president delivered the SONA in Pilipino and even used some street language. The challenge came when we tried to translate that to English in Twitter which slowed down the delivery of our tweets.

In the press room, I also found it interesting to hear the comments of veteran reporters of the Congress beat. They laughed at the awkward moment when  Senate President Enrile, House Speaker Belmonte and the president didn't know (or there was some lapse) in the procedure to start the session.

Twitter comments soon came in

eun_hye1

theionman

czarinamaye

eun_hye1

While media was busy covering the SONA inside the Press room,  Peter had the opportunity to take photos inside the second gallery landing. While we don't expect  to get special treatment, it would have been better if one of the bloggers was inside the gallery to live tweet and write observations or reactions towards the SONA.

You can read commentaries from Caffeinesparks, Venzie, Cocoy, JC Maningat and Dine .

Mixed reactions are bound happen. I loosely translated the "pwede muling mangarap" to "we can dare dream again" which was re-tweeted by some of our followers.

ang_mungo

hilway

bluevill

hilway

hilway

qpidx

I believe the SONA only encompassed doable actions, something this new administration can deliver. His list of promises needs a timeline and metrics to measure its  progress. Most of our twitter followers saw hope and deliverance of the promises.  Hope comes with vigilance. Ellen Tordesillas was not disappointed because she did not have high expectations. BongV thought the SONA had more bark than bite. Some think it fell short of the people's agenda. There is so much work to do.

Blog Watch intends to enable the new administration to fulfill its promise to include the citizenry in solving the nation's problems. It continues to be a forum for constructive engagement in the democratic process. We reiterated our plans with TJ Manotoc in Mornings @ ANC. We will continue the commentaries and articles and to tap our various social media networking sites and multimedia platforms to convey these stories through photos, videos and podcasts. That is social media at work.

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Mornings @ ANC

July 27, 2010

Photos by Peter Baltazar of Creativoices.com, Noemi Lardizabal-Dado, Dine Racoma and Jane Uymatiao. Some Rights Reserved.