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Philippines - News of abduction testifies to, tests power of blogging

by jayr_patron | July 24, 2008 at 11:27 pm | 93 views | add comment

Makati City, Philippines - The news spread like wild fire--attesting to the power of blogs in public affairs and information dissemination. Seconds after "melquita" posted a call for help on Multiply.com, the Filipino blogosphere heeded by re-posting the piece on their respective sites and circulating the news through email--in hopes of reaching more audience.

A specified Google search related to the incident yielded three pages of blog posts, some of which have been posted only minutes behind melquita's original post.

Kenneth David Samudio was "abducted" at a mall in the southern Metro Manila city of Muntinlupa on Tuesday. He was found early this morning, Thursday, walking around the Sta. Rosa Commercial Complex in Laguna province--a 30-minute drive south of Muntinlupa--with his supposed adbuctor, a girl said to be in her early teens.

The girl ran away after a mall security guard, Jonathan Estema, accosted the two.

Relatives said the syndicate that abducted the boy took him to Laguna since authorities in Muntinlupa have already been searching for Samudio.
The abduction nearly placed the boy's life in danger since he is supposed to undergo an operation next month for an intestinal ailment.

The young Samudio has been reunited with his family.

Although the blogs do not have a direct hand in the "search and rescue" of the young Samudio, they have still been instrumental in providing the lead to mainstream media.