*Jozzua

I was invited last week to Yehey’s 10th anniversary party and DigitalFilpino’s Web Marketing Seminar.

At the seminar I saw Ms. Janette Toral, Ms. Aileen Apolo, Mr. Wilson Chua, Jonas De Los Reyes and Manuel Viloria - some popular faces on the Philippine Internet Scene. Ms. Toral is considered the ‘mother’ of Philippine Internet. Ms. Apolo is the country consultant for Google Philippines. Jonas Delos Reyes is the e-commerce manager for Yehey.com. Wilson and Manuel are known Pinoy Search Engine Marketing enthusiasts. They all talked about web marketing. There were other entrepreneur friends there, as well.

The Yehey party started slow. At around 9 pm, people started filling up the Silver City Mall (Near Tiendesitas) at the end of Julio Vargas St. in Pasig. The place was actually still unfinished. It made me wonder why the party was held there. The people who came included Yehey’s clients, partners and visitors. There was an INVISIBLE divide between guests and partners which became apparent at the buffet table. Our names tags were all plain white while the partners had a yellow mark. We were entitled to sandwiches, macaroni, and barbecue. The Yehey partners had full dinner with rice and various choices of viand. (Damn… and I wanted to eat rice!)

The entertainment included juggling bartenders, an indie-music band, and some games. The bartenders were pretty good. They threatened to break 10 bottles to signify 10 years of Yehey. They didn’t. The band’s lead singer was cute. Aileen gave away some shirts when she had a bit of a Google Game on. Liquor was all around and I drank a couple of beers.

I had a chance to talk with Jay (of titikpilipino.com), Joven (pinoydelikasi.com) and Chris (kulayful.com). Jedi Dancel (of tsikot.com) was actually with us, on the same table. We exchanged jokes and insights on Internet businesses. Tsikot.com is one of the pioneer pinoy websites, along with Yehey.com. I learned that Jedi did not have a car — ironic for someone who has a car website.

I left early since I had something planned the next morning. I really would’ve wanted to stay longer.