The bloggers, led by Avel Manansala of Gensantos.Com were welcomed by the City LGU staffs and were assisted to the venues of different events that happened during that day. The group were able to witnessed the civic and military parade in the morning which was then followed by the culmination program at the South Cotabato Sports Complex wherein the open drumline competition participated by different school contingents in the region was also held.

Sox Bloggers were also able to met and had a short but fruitful discussion with Hon. Mayor Peter Miguel, MD during the anniversary lunch held at The Farm @ Carpenter Hills.

In the afternoon, the bloggers experienced Piyesta Korona the main highlight of Hinugyaw Festival. Piyesta Korona is on it’s first year, it is a mix of street dancing and mardi gras wherein all presentation centers on crowns or korona. An estimated crowd of more than 50,000 locals and visitors flocked at the main streets of Koronadal as colorful crowns of different sizes flooded the streets visible in the costumes of 9 street dancing contingents from all over the region each with their own uniquely designed festival floats, and 30 mardi gras participants.

Photo by: PinayTravelogue.com

A grand fireworks display and releasing of colorful flying lanterns followed by a foam party and disco sa kalye along Alunan Avenue and Gensan Drive cap off the 12th Hinugyaw Festival and Piyesta Korona celebrations in Koronadal city.

The SOCCSKSARGEN BLOGGERS would like thank our hosts headed by City Mayor Hon. Peter Miguel, MD. and Assistant Festival Director Mr. Francis Sablon, the whole team behind the successful Hinugyaw Festival and Cresta Del Rio Splash Resort for our accommodation.

Sun Cellular Chief Operating Officer Charles Lim says they will be strengthening their network coverage in areas of Mindanao to include Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Camiguin, Zamboanga, Tawi-Tawi, Dinagat Island, Compostela Valley, Sulu, parts of Bukidnon, Cagayan de Oro and Davao del Sur among others . “The demand for our best-value products and services in Mindanao is immense, hence we prioritized this region in the initial phase of our network enhancement program for 2012,” he explained.

Lim added, “Sun is improving its signal strength  in Mindanao to provide its subscribers wider network coverage and more reliable service especially in key areas in the region such as Davao, General Santos, and Cagayan de Oro.  We want those in Mindanao to optimize their experience of our unlimited call and text service, as well as the value-for money bucket load and postpaid plans that Sun has been providing its subscribers nationwide.”

Sun Cellular has been known for its best value product offering such as the Text Unlimited 150 which allows customers to text other Sun subscribers unlimited for 30 days and the Text Unlimited 200 which also includes 500 texts to other networks aside from the 30-day unlimited Sun-to-Sun texts.  “Mindanao is an important market for us. Local and national officials from the region have been sending us letters on behalf of their constituents and we’d just like to say we have heeded their call  ,” Lim enthused.

Lim revealed that the Mindanao network improvement will just be the initial salvo of network enhancement programs that Sun has lined-up this year. “We will be augmenting our existing 6,000 plus cell sites and will further strengthen coverage which will also be felt in the areas of North Luzon and the Visayas region, wherever there is a demand for Sun’s affordable communication products and services,” he said.

This will include improving indoor coverage through the use of in-building solutions and high gain antennae in strategic locations. The network improvement program also involves  optimizing exisiting cellsites to boost both 2G and 3G signals.

This is a follow-up to last year’s largest gathering of bloggers and new media on December 11, 2011 entitled then as Blogfest Soccsksargen 2010.

The theme for Blogfest Soccsksargen 2.0 is simply, “THE EMERGENCE OF BLOGS AND SOCIAL MEDIA” and will feature speakers who are prominent blogging stalwarts and social media experts.

Registration has started for the event which will happen on from 8am-5pm on  November 26, 2011 at SunCity Complex, National Highway, General Santos City.  Everyone is invited, bloggers and non-bloggers alike, especially students of Information Technology, Mass Communication and other related courses.

An added treat is the Awards Night of the very prestigious 2011 Philippine Blog Awards for Mindanao starting at 7pm at a separate venue.

Slots are very limited so we are advising everyone to register online by CLICKING HERE.  Please take note of the deadlines.

We are not accepting WALK-IN participants.

Below is the initial layout of the official Blogfest Soccsksargen 2.0 Poster designed by Xyrilloid Landicho, a Sox Blogger from Tupi, South Cotabato!

The Blogfest Soccsksargen 2.0 is presented by the Circle of Arts Production, DOLEFIL, and SMART.

For more info, please CLICK HERE.