For the past 5 years or so, I’ve always driven myself to get around. On the average, I would say that I only take public transportation or cabs thrice a year.

My stress levels, however, have gotten to a point where I strongly detest driving on account of me getting pissed off by other drivers a little too easily, and a lingering fear that the bouts of road rage I have would, someday, end up in homicides. Multiple, violent homicides.

So yeah, earlier this week I was invited to attend a press event over at hotel near where I work. Since the venue was only 3 blocks away from the office and I really want to avoid driving as much as I can, I decided to take a cab to get there.

So I flag down a cab, get in and–before I go on–a disclaimer:

A lot has been said in this blog about people from the provinces but, truth be told, I have nothing but respect for them.

I mean really, how can you not respect people who leave their quaint little home town and cross the seas to find a better life in Manila? These people do seventy-hour weeks in department stores or factories so they can buy Magic Sings so they’d have something to entertain their drunkard friends the next time they come over the small-ass apartment they’re renting.

All this while overachieving people like me get high paying jobs landing on their laps, spend their time magically turning a good chunk of their salary into alcohol and end up blowing almost PhP 5,000 pesos on various sexy girl webcam access sites because they’re stressed and miserable. And horny.

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Early this week, we were finally able to fulfil our obligations to those who donated via PhilippineAid.com and, more importantly, to the victims of Typhoons Ketsana and Parma–at least as far as remitting the funds we have collected via our PayPal account to the Philippine National Red Cross would go.

To date, PhilippineAid.com has managed to raise over $16,648 (PhP 776,795 using today’s conversion rates) in two collection drives.

PhilippineAid.com was such a resounding success that, to me, would be one of the best and brightest proofs of concept whenever discussions on how to harness the viral power of social media to drive similar charity campaigns pop up.

It is also a success tempered with hard lessons.

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Here are the slides of my SEMCON 2009 Presentation: Twisted Twitter Tactics, how to turn Twitter into a mega traffic channel overnight.

To recap: For businesses, Twitter is effective as a Marketing/Lead Generation platform only if it is used to build trust for your brand. Start with considering using it as a Customer Service tool. I see what you did there @SMARTcares, I see what you did there and I love it.

I’d also like to thank everyone who attended SEMCON 2009, you guys were great. See you next year!

The Good News
In our aggressive, social-media driven campaign that lasted less than 48 hours, Philippine Aid managed to generate a total of $6,647.51 in PayPal donations. You may have noticed that the ChipIn Event we used to monitor our progress has ended. This is due to the fact that PayPal has flagged our account and required us to submit a letter of subordination from the Philippine National Red Cross as means of verifying our intentions. I am personally meeting with the board of my local Philippine National Red Cross chapter (Rizal, the chapter spearheading the relief efforts in areas most affected by tropical storm Ondoy) tomorrow morning and they shall, with great pride and gratitude, furnish me with a letter of subordination.

The Philippine National Red Cross Rizal Chapter Administrator, Mrs. Repollo was ecstatic to hear about the success of the campaign and profusely thanks everyone for their donations.

The mission to rebuild the nation is far from over though and as such, more than ever, we wish to encourage everyone to keep the donations coming and keep spreading the word. I have replaced the ChipIn widget we used prior with that of our friends’ over at Txtpower.org. Who has a similar initiative going; we are all working for the same cause.

We have begun the process of withdrawing what we have collected so far into our local bank account and, as stated, we will be depositing managers checks in batches into the Philippine National Red Cross’ bank account.

With the current conversion rates, less PayPal fees, you and PhilippineAid.com have generated PhP 307,362.25–money that will go a long way in helping in the ongoing relief and rebuilding operations.

Our friends over at Txtpower.org report collections of over PhP P1,217,188.96. These are very hard and trying times for the Philippines and the victims of Ondoy but, on the brighter side of things, the donations collected so far is a huge victory for the international community and Filipinos all over the world who have exhibited tremendous altruism with the help of the internet particularly Social Media.

The Philippine National Red Cross recognizes this as I hear word that they too have officially started using PayPal to collect donations. I am in the process of getting their account details so I could update the widgets on this site and so you could directly send your donations to them.

Also, Philippineaid.com has gotten a lot of praise lately; praises which we take reluctantly because the people who are truly worthy of praise are the donors and supporters of this site who have made everything possible. You are all heroes in your own right.

The Bad News

The bad news is that as the flood waters subside, we get a grim, more accurate picture of the devastation Ondoy has caused the Philippines. As of 3PM of September 29, 2009, the National Disaster Coordinating Council estimates PhP 4.6 Billion worth of damages in its damage assessment. (link)

The death toll has also reached 246 people and is rising. There are also over 101,000 families taking refuge in various evacuation centers nationwide.

Friends, the battle is far from over. Along with the relief operations there is some major rebuilding needed to be done. People lost lives and property and we, as a community, should NOT let up as our donations are needed now more than ever.

Send your donations using the widgets below:

At the time of writing, 73 people have died and over 300,000 people have been displaced by Tropical Storm Ketsana (local name “Ondoy”) that struck the Philippines with heavy, torrential rains on Saturday, September 26, 2009. (link)

Waters rose to as much as 5 meters high in some areas and the Philippines, seeing the worst flooding in over 30 years, was caught unaware. Metro Manila and 5 outlying provinces are now in a state of calamity.

Shanties were washed away and thousands of houses and vehicles were submerged and destroyed by the floods.

Even up to now, there are over 9,000 families taking refuge in evacuation sites and there are thousands of people stranded in the roofs of their houses waiting to be rescued.

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