I met personally (for the first time) the founder of the Digital Filipino Club, Ma’am Janette Toral last November 28, 2007 during the Filipina Writing Contest Awards Night and Digital Filipino Party. During that night, she told me that she wrote an article for her Sun.Star Cebu Column which talked about me as the Provincial-based Filipino blogger.

I actually failed to read that column because starting October 2007, I was not already receiving a copy of the Sun.Star Cebu Daily. I really wanted to read the content.

Well, anyway, ZDiaz confirmed this. In his review of my blog, he mentioned that he learned about me and my blog through the article of Ma’am Janette Toral.

I came across Sustines E. Laplana’s site through a Sun Star article authored by Janet Toral. I was actually amazed by his blogging success story. Laplana blogs directly from Maasin, Southern Leyete. The Sun Star article said that Laplana’s site proves that “you don’t have to be in Manila or in a big city to succeed at blogging.” I totally agree. There are those from who think that you have to be “Manila Boys” or City boys to succeed at something. This kind of mentality is pervasive even among us from the provinces. But I am glad somebody like Sustines Laplana stood up and proved wrong those who think that way.

Thank’s a lot for this Ma’am Janette.

Update:

Got the copy of the said column. It is dated November 15, 2007. Below is the part of the column that talks about me:

Title: No. 1 Blogger
Author: Janette Toral
Online Edition: SunStar Cebu

IN monitoring the Philippines blogging community, one site that I regularly monitor is Ratified.org. This site ranks the Philippines’ top 100 blogs using metrics, such as Technorati links, Google PageRank and number of Feedburner subscribers.

From its recent results, one blog that caught my attention is Sustines Laplana (http://www. selaplana.com), who currently ranks number two in Ratified. He is based in Maasin, Southern Leyte.

This proves that bloggers, regardless of where they are in the country, can make a name for themselves online. Laplana is certainly an inspiration to any blogger in the country as you don’t have to be based in big cities to excel in blogging and earn substantial income online.  …

Thanks ZDiaz for providing me the link to this column.

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