#gangsters’ twin celebration last january 27, 2013

#gangsters and guests

last january 27, 2013, the #gangsters held it’s first tweetup of 2013. it was a twin celebration plus special guests joined the event.

dr. clinton balud

the first celebration and this one is probably one of the grandest that the #gangsters will ever have is dr. clinton balud, a baguio-based doctor who joined us that evening. he came all the way from baguio to rejoin the #gangsters after what he calls a “successful second life”.

a day after a #gangster tweetup in december 2012 at Slice High Street, dr. clinton suffered a major heart attack when he returned to baguio. he needed to go through a major heart operation and with just a few weeks after the operation he is all well, fully recovered and even looking healthier than before.

the #gangsters were all over themselves in seeing dr. clinton at the tweetup in just a few weeks after his operation. he is known to be a health buff, always going to the gym regularly and ate healthy foods. those and his young age according to him ensured he will recover from the major heart surgery with flying colors. on top of those things, it did help that his heart attack in baguio happened right at the hospital where he worked. he received excellent medical services from the surgeons, doctors, nurses and other hospital staff who made sure he will go through it well and fit. dr. clinton also credits his friends, families and even strangers who prayed and wished him well.

dr. clinton’s experience reminds us all that living healthy, exercising regularly, eating the right food and having loving friends and family is THE most effective formula for success in health, even a major heart attack.

las vegas – based tony shappy

the other half in our twin celebration was meting Tony Shappy who is part of the #gangsters in twitter and is based in Las Vegas, USA. tony who was born and raised in angeles city, pampanga was home for a short vacation and he wanted to make sure he gets to see the faces behind the #gangster usernames in twitter.

what is a #gangsters tweetup without special guests? that is  rare. in this tweetup, we were joined by HOR rhbill champion representative kimi conjuangco   and her husband and ex-representative mark cojuangco; the popular tour guide and artist carlos celdran who in the past days is in the news and beth angsioco, one of the #gangsters and  a noted women’s rights advocate and newspaper columnist.

represntative kimi cojuangco

rep kimi told us inside stories about what happened at the HOR on the trek of the RH Bill to becoming RH Law.

she credits social media, twitter and the #gangsters in particular in playing an important role in getting the RH Bill passed. it was unmistakable based on her experience that the #gangsters through twitter was instrumental in getting the RH Bill from being close to dead and ignored  at the HOR to something alive, strong and getting all the attention it deserved.

in our view, the #gangsters’ tweets gave rep kimi’s lone voice strength and loudness that not only enabled her voice to be heard by other RH Bill advocates in twitter and other social media, but also by traditional media, the other members and leaders in the legislature and specially other key national leaders.  this collective loud voice caused the action by leaders to get it done in congress and eventually at the senate and the office of the president.

the #gangsters may have tweeted with text via keyboards, but they came out noisy and strong to be heard by all key players in and outside of social media and the internet. it may just be #gangster words in twitter, but they caused action in the real world.

“mr. damaso” carlos celdran

we have been to carlos celdran’s tour at the malate church some years ago, we were more than a dozen people, adults and kids belonging from 3 families and all of us ended the tour smiling, happy, entertained and better informed about the philippine history and the malate church and nearby places during the japanese war.

we would not be surprised to know that celdran’s middle name is “entertainment”. entertained he did to us during the tweetup. he told us his own experience when he was “arrested” for the protest action he did at the Manila Cathedral two years ago to which he has been charged with a crime. the tweetup was on a sunday and the decision on his case will be handed down next day, monday.

celdran gave us tiny details of what happened from the time he prepared for the protest action at his residence in malate to the court hearings. it was full of funny and interesting tidbits that made us wonder is this for real or a skit in a comedy show?

it was real alright as next day, celdran was found guilty by the court of the crime of  “notoriously offending religious feelings”. (read here: “Carlos Celdran’s guilty verdict “offending religious feelings”)

beth angsioco

beth angsioco gave us a short history of the long history of the rh bill. it was a long and winding struggle from the beginnings of the rh bill  where each and every step of progress seemed to take a march of a thousand steps. without saying it, we believe beth was telling us  it was a journey worth taking as she believed in it and believed that it will really make a difference in the lives not only of women but also of pinoy families and the poor.

it was a beautiful evening with the #gangsters. it was interesting that the members were all strangers to each other at the start but has evolved to a community founded on shared values and advocacy, including jokes and laughter.  until the next historic tweetup of the #gangsters….

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more pictures here, click : http://wp.me/PaTrm-1YC

#gangsters make it to national print media – Manila Standard Today

here is the quotation from a piece written by Beth Angsioco in Power Point at the Manila Standard Today, a nationally published broadsheet :

Even offline, tweeps have fun with each other. Yes, in person. I, for one, have met a lot of wonderful, (a few awful) people via Twitter.

At the height of RH debates, pro-RH tweeps belonging to very diverse backgrounds found each other passionately engaging the opposing group. Because of the bill, they banded online.

They eventually did a “tweet-up” (tweeps meeting personally) and named themselves “gangsters”. The bill is now a law but the gangsters still have tweet-ups almost monthly for the fun of it.

Weeks before the bill was passed, an anti-RH parody account came up with the bright idea of listing down pro-RH advocates and labeling them abortionists because of reasons as absurd as, someone is working for a pharmaceutical company, one is a daughter of an advocate, one is gay, one has a sexy picture, etc.

Carlos Celdran, yes, the one sued by a Catholic Monsignor over ‘Damaso’, was number 25 on the A-list. This prompted him to quip, “I work harder than to be 25!”

Another advocate was furious that he was not on the list. So he engaged the parody account and eventually made it. Success!

The gangsters and A-listers partied to celebrate the RH law. It was riot fun! Even Rep. Edcel Lagman who met tweeps for the first time enjoyed the party. He was surprised to know about this new “universe” inhabited by smart and articulate netizens.

source: http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/01/26/twitter-fun/