Chin Wong writes in his Digital Life column,

MOST of us who found our way to Software Freedom Day at the UP College of Engineering last Saturday had to take a circuitous route to get there. The main entrance to Melchor Hall was closed, so we had to circumnavigate the building before stumbling upon a gate in the back—unencumbered by any directional signs. Going through, we followed others who looked less lost into a quadrangle, into a side door, up some stairs and finally, into the third floor auditorium.

Even on a hot, muggy morning, it was a trek worth making.

I got there in time to hear some welcome remarks from Jerome Gotangco, vice president of the Philippine Linux Users Group (PLUG), one of the event organizers. I was surprised to learn that PLUG has been celebrating Software Freedom Day since 1998.

The next speaker was Dr. Alvin Marcelo, an associate professor from UP Manila, whose day job is to manage the Philippine node of International Open Source Network ASEAN+3, as part of UN efforts to promote free and open source software (FOSS) in the region. Marcelo’s night job, I later learned, is trauma surgeon at the Philippine General Hospital.

An old hand at Linux, Marcelo urged the younger crowd to take two or three newcomers under their wings, recalling how a more experienced user, Eric Pareja, had helped him when he was a newbie.