A blessing, a responsibility! MANNYPIÑOL.COM READERSHIP REACHES 2.1-MILLION THIS WEEK

By Manny Pinol

Sometime in 2011, I and my wedding Godchild, John Pagaduan, thought of starting a Facebook page to prepare for our “rematch” for the Governorship of North Cotabato in 2013.

Since I did not have enough financial resources, we believed that reaching voters through the social media just like what Barack Obama did in America would greatly help our cause.

The effort paid off as two days before the elections of 2013, a Malacanang survey showed that I was well ahead of my political rival.

What we did not factor in, however, were the election day operations.

I lost that elections but I have found in the MANNYPIÑOL.COM page a vehicle to continue my advocacy for good governance, especially agriculture.

The followers of the page increased from a few thousands to over 91,000 today and the weekly readership of the articles I posted in this page would reach to as many as 1.4 million.

This week, however, I received that biggest surprise of my life when Facebook sent me back a report which says that the readership of MANNYPIÑOL.COM reached 2.1-million.

I almost could not believe that so many would be following the posts in this page with comments coming from Filipinos and foreigners alike living not only in the Philippines but in other parts of the world.

The following is such that when I was in Macau last month with Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte, several Filipinos came up to me and told me that they were following MANNYPIÑOL.COM.

I alone cannot claim credit for the phenomenal popularity of this page because there is one person who generates so much interest that whenever I post articles about him, the readership statistics would shoot up like a mercury on a very hot day.

That person is no other than Mayor Rody Duterte.

He is so popular that the recent article I posted about his views on leadership was read by 1.9 million Facebook users.

This is “viral” as viral could be in the cyberworld.

I look at this huge following as a blessing from God because He has given me an avenue to continue my advocacy for good governance and my crusade to build a better Philippines for my grandchildren.

At the same time, however, I consider this as a huge responsibility because I know that the followers and readers of this page expect so much from me in enlightening them on very critical issues.

I accept the responsibility and I will do my best to enlighten my readers on issues affecting them and their children.

Merry Christmas to all of you and may God grant us our dreams and wishes of a better Philippines for the future generation of Filipinos.

May God bless us all.