Students and coordinators from four different schools: Aklan Catholic College (ACC), STI College - Kalibo (STI), Numansia Intergrated School (NIS) and Northwestern Visayan Colleges (NVC); and SMEs gathered together at Ati-atihan Hostel simultaneously celebrated the event with some speakers moving from one venue to the other. Each venue had its own set of topics, raffle prizes and programmes.
The Preparation
SFD.PH is a team! Along with the support of participating Schools, PCCI, Municipal Government, DTI, Deped and local Media in Aklan, they were able to accomplish their tasks to bring the best SFD celebration to date. Undaunted by all the challenges, hardships and difficulties brought by the distance of the event venue during the preparation, team SFD.PH still was able to build the spirit of camaraderie and had fun along the way. These special moments and journey would always be meaningful to team SFD.PH.
The New SFD song
The advocates' love for open source knows no bounds. Not only were these advocates a bunch of technical geeks but they are also musically-inclined with talents on composing and writing songs. A new SFD song was created to showcase the creativity and excitement of the team for the event. What better way to celebrate the day of sharing than through music and song! The lyrics and melody would surely perked up one's mood.
The SFD Event
Inspite of some technical problems due to power shortage in the venues, the event went on uninterrupted and ended successfully.
@Ati-atihan Hostel - SMEs
The event started early in the morning with Ms. Megs Lunn, executive director of PCCI as the emcee. The first speaker, Josh Pendejito, Business Channel Manager of Intel Phils. introduced the evolution and the latest trend of microprocessors that captivated the audience's attention with his upbeat mood. This was followed by Atty. Reggie Tongol of UNTV that talked about the Data Privacy and Creative commons. Atty. Reggie had the longest time on stage as the audience got so interested and hooked up on asking legal questions pertaining to patents, ownership and the like. After lunch session was more business related as Mr. Bryan Del Rosario of OBS talked about Sailfin payroll system; Mr. Lawrz Libo-on of POSNet on Benefits of FOSS and Kasosyo Apps Suite; Erwin Galang of OBS on Orange HRIS; Mr. Meric Mara on Raspberry Pi; Mr. Mark Quitoriano on Call Centers; and Mr. Macoy Mejia on Business Intelligence. Raffle items were drawn in between talks to excite the audience. Major raffle items like the EPSON printer went to Ms. Salmy Beltran, owner of Hora-Hopia products and the Starmobile tablet went to Mr. Ragemmel Buncalan, a student from West Visayas State Univ.
Certificates were distributed and a take-home kit that contains KahelOS CD, Open source tools, 1-year Kasosyo voucher, Sailfin Payroll installer, and other freebies was given to each of the SME attendees.
@APSTA - STI & other school students
Due to the large number of attendees, STI had to find another venue for the event. It was held at APSTA with students from other schools both in high school and college participating too. A slight delay was encountered in the commencement of the event because of the unexpected power shortage.
The first speaker was Josh Pendejito from Intel who talked about what's on trend with Intel.
Students were mesmerized with his voice and they listened with their full attention. Intel tumblers were given to those who listened and answered his questions correctly. An intermission number followed to entertain the audience. The next speaker, Ms. Eli of 8Layer Technologies, discussed about Social Media. Followed by Dennis Diola who tackled about Geo-Server Maps. And the last speaker, but definitely not the least, was the heart and brain of everything, Mr. Meric Mara who shared his knowledge about Raspberry Pi and KahelOS. Everyone was impressed with his mini gadget as he started his talk by giving a prize to anyone whose cellphone number would appear in his system. It was such an adrenaline rush to everyone.
The event ended with the participants having their group picture taken with the speakers holding the "Software Freedom Day" banner.
@ACC Gym - ACC students
This venue almost got cancelled few days before the event; but as the saying goes, "All's well that ends well". Special thanks to Ms. Megs Lunn for helping in the glitches with the organizers.
The first speaker was Mr. Joscel Pendjito of Intel Philippines who tackled the fourth generation intel core and benefits of intel processor. Then, Mr. Renan Mara shared the meaning of FOSS and SFD. The third speaker, Mr. Rhoane Tañada discussed the Kannel Open Source SMS Gateway which got the audience wide-eyed with the live streaming of sending sms. The fourth speaker was Mr. Erwin Galang who talked about the Soundation and Multimedia. Lastly, students and faculties from PUP shared their experience about open source and challenged the students to never stop learning and sharing.
@Numancia Municipal Hall - Numancia and other school students
The venue was an open stadium and with the power shortage, there was technical problems with the sound and visual system - no microphone and projector. But the resourceful speakers assigned there thought of an intuitive way of handling the situation by dividing the audience into two groups, to make sure their voices will be heard.
Mr. Allan de Guzman, Mr. Alec Rivera, Ms. Jenica Capati and Mr. Aljon Mara took turns in talking to the 2 groups about FOSS, Raspberry Pi, Linux Distribution and LAMPP.
@Aklan Training Center - NVC students 
The Charity Mission
The SFD celebration was capped off with donating old laptops, PCs from our supportive donors and a starmobile tablet to ALS to promote SFD and Free and Opensource softwares. It's all part of the plan and through the help of friends and supporters, this mission of giving back to the community was accomplished through and through!
The Sponsors and Supporters
Team SFD.ph is grateful to all the sponsors and supporters of the event. All of these would not be possible without their support. Special acknowledgement to IDSS, Intel, MDS, Comclark, Starmobile, EPSON, Mighty Corp. Other supporters who shared their money, time and talent, we are thankful too. Special thanks to Cong. Teddy Casiño, FOSS Bill Author, Mr. Allan Caeg, FOSS Advocate, and Mr. Michael Cheng of Singapore Php User Group who sent their congratulatory messages for the event. Lastly, to Mr. Nervin Macaranas of PUP Manila for the SFD teaser video.
Sir Teddy on Foss Bill Video:
Mr. Allan Caeg Message Video
Mr. Michael Cheng Message Video:
SFD Teaser Video by Nervin Macaranas:
Building The Community
SFD is a celebration that is filled with an abundance of knowledge to be learned and shared in return.
Knowledge multiplies when it is being shared. SFD is all about sharing, creating awareness and building a community - a community that abounds with talented people willing to impart and share knowledge. With FOSS and a knowlegeable community, the road to technology progress is endless.
"SFD is more than celebration of free and open source software, it is a revolution against walls that blind us from truths we should know"
- Lawrz Libo-on, President, POSNet
“Walang shortcut sa pagiging magaling, ito ay hindi patungkol sa inyo, wala akong pakialam kung ikaw ang pinakamagaling na programmer, ito ay patungkol sa kumunidad, ito ay patungkol sa pagbabahagi.
Be more. Be Useful. Be of Service. ”
-Meric Mara, CEO, 8layer
