This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Philippine Wikimedia Community User Group, a registered non-stock non-profit organization dedicated to promoting unrestricted access to knowledge within and beyond the archipelago. This article, first published on 8 June 2025, is the final part of a three-part series on the PhilWiki Community’s 10 Milestones, marking 10 amazing years. The PhilWiki Community is based in Naga City.
10 MILESTONES OF THE PHILWIKI COMMUNITY
And for our last three significant achievements in the previous decade, we have the following:
8 – Ilocandia cuisines captivated Wiki Loves Food PH for 3 years in a row
Veteran photographer Jesse Alegre of Vigan, Ilocos Sur, has won all top prizes in the last three editions of Wiki Loves Food Philippines, earning him a spot in the Wiki Loves Philippines photography contests “Wall of Fame”!
Alegre’s photographs of Ilocandia cuisine have consistently captivated Wiki Loves Food PH since 2022. The food photography competition celebrates Filipino cuisine and cooking traditions, running annually from November 1st to December 31st. The competition aims to showcase the diverse flavors of the Philippines, with Ilocandia cuisine being a popular and featured aspect of the Filipino culinary landscape.
In the latest Wiki Loves Food PH edition, the final jurors picked Alegre’s appetizing photograph of Vigan Empanada as the best entry. The local snack is well-known in the Ilocos Region, whose main ingredients include vegetables such as papaya or cabbage, meat, and eggs. He also captured 2nd prize with his entry, entitled Balicucha, a type of candy made from sugarcane that serves as a perfect natural sweetener for coffee and tea.
Winning photographs in Wiki Loves Foods PH and other Wiki Loves Philippines photography contests are carefully selected, taking into consideration the technical quality, originality, and usefulness of the image as an illustration on Wikipedia.
The competition is inspired by Wikimedia India’s Wiki Loves Food gastronomic photography competition.
The panel of jurors from 2022 to 2024 consisted of local and international members from the Commons Photographers User Group and the PhilWiki Community, as well as experts in various fields of the arts. They are Bijay Chaurasia, Bright Ayisi, Jaturawit Rodcheewan, Mrb Rafi, Nirmal Dulal, Shreya Dwivedi, Sophia Coghini, Wasiul Bahar, Elbert Baeta, Irvin Sto. Tomas, Michael Andrew Embestro, Kaloi Garcia, and Ferdinand Isleta of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
9 – Wiki Takes the City goes to the City of Smiles, Paris of Negros, and the City in the Forest
New cities served as the location of the back-to-back-to-back Wiki Takes the City editions in Bacolod, the City of Smiles; Silay, the Paris of Negros; and Puerto Princesa, the City in the Forest. The offline event involves photographers, where participants compete to take as many photographs as possible of sights in a particular locale for Wikipedia articles that require them.
International Wiki Loves Folklore winner Herbert Kikoy and international Wiki Loves Earth winner organized Wiki Takes Bacolod and Silay in October 2024. The photowalk was then followed by Team Wiki Loves Birds PH’s participation in an international bird photography race in Puerto Princesa City in November 2024.
These fun-filled photo scavenger hunts were the latest photography outreach activities of the PhilWiki Community in the Central Philippines, coinciding with the Masskara Festival and the 8th International Bird Photography Race at the Puerto Princesa Underground River, respectively.
Wiki Takes Bacolod participants, who comprised Cebu-based photographers known as Putowalkers, captured a total of 177 free-licensed images as a result of the 2-day photography hunt in Bacolod City and Silay City, the hometown of WLE international winner Mark Kineth Casindac, who served as a guide.
In 2024 and 2025, Team Wiki Loves Birds PH conducted an outreach activity in Puerto Princesa City to increase the quality and quantity of free licensed images of bird species on Wikimedia Commons. The first team consisted of Wiki Loves Philippines 2022 top winners Raniel Jose Castaneda (WLE PH 2021, WL Fashion PH 2021-2022), Michael Angelo Luna (WLE PH 2022), and Alvin Casitas (WL Monuments PH 2022), who won the Best in Uniform award in 2024 and 2025. Another team, named Wikimedia Photographers, was formed this year with the following International Wiki Loves Philippines winners: Herbert Kikoy (WLF 2020), Mark Kineth Casindac (WLE 2023 & 2024), and Emman Foronda (WLM 2024). Both teams bagged the 7th Runner Up (tied) overall for capturing various endemic bird species found in Palawan.
During the 2022 Wiki Loves Earth campaign, Kikoy also led an outreach activity at the Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.
The PhilWiki Community has conducted similar activities in Iriga and its neighbouring towns (2015); Kawit and Trece Martires in Cavite, Legazpi, Ligao and Tabaco in Albay, and San Pascual, Masbate (2018); Virac, Catanduanes and Taal Volcano, Batangas (2019); Naga, Manila and Lapu-Lapu (2022); Vigan and Laoag (2023).
And finally!
10 – WikiWomen Filipinas: Fostering diverse participation and inclusivity
In December 2023, the PhilWiki Community launched WikiWomen Filipinas, a support group for Filipino women Wikimedians, intending to foster the engagement of women in diverse fields and align with the Wikimedia movement’s commitment to inclusivity and enhanced representation of women across its projects.
Then, board secretary Glenda Perico-Brioso, the chair of the diversity program committee, organized the Wiki Women Meet-up 2023 in solidarity with the nationwide 18-day campaign to end violence against women, as led by the Philippine Commission on Women. The meet-and-greet event was attended by youth and women sectoral leaders, young professionals, and mothers, including two grandmothers.
President Maffeth Sto. Tomas and around 100 women from different parts of the world gathered at WikiWomen Camp 2023 to discuss strategies for reducing the gender gap on the internet. The conference was held from October 19 to 22 in New Delhi, India, bringing together individuals who identify themselves as women from different countries within the Wikimedia movement, leaders of their respective communities, and those with substantial experience and proven engagement in addressing the gender gap.
Past board chair Zaira Hila, board secretary Glenda Perico-Brioso, current board secretary Bernadette Roco, board treasurer Marife Altobano, and staff Judith Arendaing have represented the PhilWiki Community at various regional conferences, namely: ESEAP Conference 2022 in Sydney, Wikimania 2023 in Singapore, ESEAP Conference 2024 in Kota Kinabalu, Wikisource Conference 2025 in Bali, Indonesia, and ESEAP Strategy Summit 2025 in Manila, Philippines.
The PhilWiki Community has maintained a gender-diverse board since 2021, following the election of Leah Sumalinog and Cris Fragata Gomez to the board. Cris would then become the first woman to serve as board chair. In 2023, Maffeth Opiana Sto. Tomas became the first female head of the organization. She is currently serving her third term as the president.
These are the 10 significant achievements that the Philippine Wikimedia Community User Group has accomplished over the last decade, and we are proud to have achieved them as an organization.
Happy 10th anniversary, PhilWiki Community!
The Philippine Wikimedia Community User Group extends its gratitude to all the participants, volunteers, partners, and supporters for their commitment to making information accessible in the Philippines and beyond as it celebrates 10 years of participation, collaboration, and friendship.
End of Part 3. This article is the 3rd of a 3-part series on the PhilWiki Community’s 10 Milestones, celebrating 10 amazing years.
The header image features a group photo of attendees to the GLAM Wiki Conference held on September 20-22, 2024 in Vigan, Ilocos Sur. GLAM is an acronym for Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums. It provides the foundation for PhilWIKI’s verifiable information such as original books and manuscripts. All featured photos courtesy of the PhilWiki Community.
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