Ako Mismo advocacy for change in the Philippines taps Old and New Media

I just signed up for the Ako Mismo movement and pledged to take action in order to help create genuine change in the Philippines.

Here’s an excerpt from my CNET Asia blog post about this advocacy.

Amid the terrible deluge of commercials unleashed during the free TV broadcast of the Manny Pacquiao vs Ricky Hatton bout, one advertisement stood out and actually gave hope to thousands of Filipinos.

It’s for an advocacy movement called Ako Mismo (which is Filipino for “I Myself”), which drew attention because it was a beautifully-made TV ad that saw celebrities, musicians, and ordinary Filipino citizens uniting to share a common message: that each of us must pledge to do something ourselves in order to have genuine change in the country. It’s not about waiting for the politicians to do something, or hoping that we’ll one day be saved. It’s about every citizen taking action today.

Here’s a YouTube clip of the Ako Mismo TV ad. Props to Edwin “Ka Edong” Soriano and his Technobiography blog post about Ako Mismo, which I cited in my CNET Asia blog post as one of the things that convinced me to sign up for this advocacy.

Check out the full story and visit the Ako Mismo site if you also want to take action today.