We are happy to announce that our blog, Gensan News Online Mag is celebrating its 12th Blogoversary next week, November 2019.

Twelve years ago, I wrote my first article about a Banana Snacks Vendor at the Oval Plaza Covered Court since I didn’t know where to start and I thought, it would make for good reading since these enterprising streetfood sellers were an ubiquitous sight in the area.

Social media was still at its infancy then, with Friendster and Multiply just starting to make their presence felt. Facebook was just a dot in the horizon and so blogs and the websites of news organizations, among other things, including a clunky Google, were the primary source of information, online.

The audience of Gensan News Online grew and a year after, it won an award as one of the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2008, after being voted by other Pinoy bloggers. More recognition followed, but one thing I notably did was to gather a dedicated group of other bloggers in the region in January 2008, with six other bloggers (Ariel Lalisan, Mark Aethan Agana, Vince Celeste, Hector Miñoza, Job Oberio and Liezl Oberio), to together establish the SoCCSkSarGen Bloggers, Sox Bloggers, for short.

That started it and got more young online writers involved. Until now, the Sox Bloggers are still sought after by companies and organizations who need help in online promotions.

In 2009, I started my own Facebook Page for Gensan News Online to further promote my blog posts there. Eventually, it got a life of its own and Bariles Republic’s Gensan News Online FB Page, now has wider reach than its predecessor.

With that, we can only say, thank you to all who have helped us achieve this milestone even as we promise to further improve our content even further.

Daghang salamat!