SkyScraper City Bacolod

The Good Life with Eli F.J. Tajanlangit

This may well be the face of journalism in the future – interactive, pro-active, participative. And Bacoleños are some of its most ardent practitioners. Here, netizens from Bacolod wave the banner of their city’s development in cyberspace, heralding the symbols of growth here as they mushroom one by one.

The platform is part of the worldwide SkyScraperCity.com, an international online discussion board where development plans and directions of the world’s cities are taken up, dissected, praised, panned, and whatnot.

Bacolod’s is one of the most active threads therein and those interested can access it under cities, places, travel and geography of the Visayas in the Philippines Forum platform.

Some 25 Bacoleños post their thoughts, feelings, opinions and photos on the platform, all related to updates on the city and the province, especially on movements in the real estate front. In fact, development projects in the city are often first read in SSC Bacolod which, in this respect, beats the mainstream media that has traditionally focused more on the police and political beats than in business and development.

Its readership base? It is difficult to pin down the specifics, but some 22 to 25,000 hits are recorded each week, a significant fraction of which come from Negrense expats all over the world.

Interestingly, the thread is kept alive by concerned citizens, most of them yuppies, who keep posting news and information as well as photos without any remuneration, except perhaps for the satisfaction of doing something for the city.

“This is the venue where I can do whatever I want for the love of Bacolod and Negros,” said Anton Manson, a registered nurse and considered the de facto leader of the SSC Bacolod group. “Because of SSC, people all over the Philippines and all over the world get to know Bacolod City even more, that we are not just all about sugarcane,” he added.

Another active member, Dr. Dominic Alojado, said, “This is where you know what’s new, what’s in, what’s out…in Bacolod.”

The site is unabashedly pro-Bacolod; there is hardly any pretension there about journalistic distance and balance expected from the traditional media. As Alojado puts it, “This site promotes Bacolod, it shows the good side of Bacolod.”

Efren Pomperada Jr., another active member who works abroad, said, “Since our main goal is to promote Bacolod and the province as well, we always make sure that we preserve the good vibes of the thread by posting positive news, construction updates around the city, or any related tourism activities.”

“It's our own way of selling Bacolod to the cyber community,” he added.

So passionate are the SSC people about Bacolod they often get into verbal tiffs with those who say bad things about the city. In fact, one of the things that have kept the site colorful is the long-running one-upmanship game some of them have with their Iloilo counterparts.

Aside from being just a forum where ideas are discussed, SSC Bacolod is, in fact, developing into a community which moves in pursuit of collective goals. Aside from simply discussing development, it has also reached out to the less fortunate in times of need. When fire hit a barangay in Bacolod, they went there and gave assistance. During Christmas, they meet and distribute gifts to the needy.

They also serve as something like a tourism outpost. They do not simply receive and sometimes host fellow SSC forumers from other cities. Like proud Bacoleños and Negrenses, they also recommend the best that we have to offer.*

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