PhilWiki Community/Reports/2025 Report

Report of activities: 2025

This page is the Annual Report of PhilWiki Community for the year 2025. It includes the activities of the organization from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025.

The Philippine Wikimedia Community User Group or PhilWiki Community was formed on 1 June 2015 to served as an organization of unaffiliated Wikipedians in the Philippines.

January

• January 19 - At The Boardroom by Keystone, the organization's creative space, PhilWiki Community discussed the learning questions in the Community Engagement Survey to gather valuable insights for the planning of activities in 2025-2026, and to come up with new strategies during the 1-hour hybrid community engagement meeting. The meeting concluded with a celebration of Wikipedia‘s 24th birthday.

• January 29 - The Wikisource Loves Manuscripts in the Philippines Proofreading Challenge was launched with the goal to support the preservation of intangible heritage through the Wikisource platform. During the event launched at TheBoardroom, a 12-hour challenge set the competitive mood of the participants. Now on its second year, the proofreading challenge will run until April 24, 2025. During the contest participants can help proofread and validate book pages written in different Philippine languages on the Wikisouces. For each page either proofread or validated the participant gain points. At the end of the campaign, 19 contributors completed or improved 36 Index pages on Wikisource.

February

Wikisource Conference 2025 held in Denpasar, Bali, in February 2025.

• The Feminism and Folklore in the Philippines 2025 on Bikol Wikipedia runs from February 1 to March 31 to create content on folklore and topics related to women. Along side the editing campaign is the Wiki Loves Folklore 2025 Philippines on Wikimedia Commons. After the campaign, a total of 476 articles and 351 images were submitted by 29 participants.
• February 10 - Wiki Club Minalabac gathered for its anniversary celebration. Club president and PhilWiki Community member Nora Rejalde updated the members in attendance and other guests of the organization's upcoming training workshop on children's book translation. Outputs in the said training will be made available under a free license to be printed and distributed to public schools within the Division of Camarines Sur.
• February 14–16 - At the Wikisource Conference 2025 held last month in Sanur, Bali, Indonesia, presenters Irvin Sto. Tomas and Maffeth Opiana-Sto. Tomas in the session Collaboration Toward an Open GLAM: The Case of Wikisource Loves Manuscripts in the Philippines talked about the best practices for sustaining the activities, strategies in fostering collaboration among the participants, and the learnings and challenges in implementing the WILMA PH program. The event with the theme Wikisource: Transform & Preserve Heritage was an international gathering to enhance global collaboration among Wikisource contributors.

March

• March 1–April 30 - The Wiki Gap Campaign Philippines 2025 was launched. The primary objective of this activity is to raise awareness about the gender gap on the internet and motivate participants to actively participate in discussions and editing sessions that enhance the portrayal of women on Wikipedia. The organizers, led by Maria Glenda Brioso, aim to achieve the following objectives: Foster inclusiveness by welcoming participants from various backgrounds, irrespective of their sexual orientation, occupation, or religious affiliation; Raise awareness among participants about Wikimedia Foundation's advocacy concerning the gender gap on the internet; and Motivate participants to increase the representation of women in Wikipedia by editing and translating articles about women.

At the end of the campaign, a total of 492 articles were created, 567 articles were improved, and almost 6,000 references were added to improve the credibility and verifiability of the content.

• March 6 - The Cararayan National High School (CNHS) Wiki Club kicked off 2025 with an awesome event called Wiki Mastery! The extra-curricular activity was all about exploring how to get involved and work together on creating open resources.

• March 15 - The organization elected its new board at the 2025 Annual General Meeting. Entrusted with another full year term are Leah B. Sumalinog (chair), Maffeth O. Sto Tomas (president), Bernadette F. Roco (secretary) and Marife G. Altabano (treasurer). Also rejoining the 5-member board is Marvin R. Molin who served in 2020-2021. During the meeting, president Maffeth gave a detailed report of the activities conducted from March 2024 to the present while treasurer Marife presented the mid-year report of its general support fund grant from the Wikimedia Foundation and responded to relevant inquiries from the members.

Side events were also conducted as part of the annual meeting namely a forum on translation attended by the Wiki Club Minalabac, and a session on Feminism+Wiki Loves Folklore in the afternoon participated by the community members followed by a meet up of WILMA PH Coordinating Team.

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• March 26 - The article entitled Another milestone for Wikisource Loves Manuscripts Philippines was posted on Diff, a community blog by – and for – the Wikimedia movement. Tagalog Wikisource is the second Philippine language based edition of Wikisource to be supported by the foundation within 5 months after Bikol Wikisource.

April

• April 23–28 - LitFest 2025 - CBSUA Wiki Education is a month-long literary competition hosted by the College of Education at CBSUA-Calabanga. This year’s LitFest, with its new theme "Cabinet of Curiosities" featured ten exciting events, including Dakitaramon, and Saysay using the Bikol Wikipedia platform. Around 100 participants were oriented on Wikipedia and the Wikipedia training modules last April 22nd. More than 50 students completed at least 3 topics: Wikipedia Essentials, Editing Basics, Evaluating Articles and Sources.

The two Wikipedia-related competitions ran from April 23 - 28 and continued until June 18 as an extension of Feminism and Folklore 2025 campaign on Bikol Wikipedia. The activity was co-organized by BSE 3A, BSE 3B, BSE 2A, CBSUA English Educators Hub, The Writers Project, Pintados, CBSUA Wiki Education, and the Calabanga Tourism Office. At the end of the campaign, there were a total of 130 submissions from 53 participants in addition to the 476 articles created during the Feminism and Folklore 2025 campaign conducted from February 1 to March 31.

May

• May 23–25 - The ESEAP Strategy Summit 2025 was the summit for Wikimedia affiliates and invited resource persons in the ESEAP region to talk about the Movement Strategy, including any developments around the Movement Charter, as well as topics for the ESEAP Hub held in Malate, Manila, Philippines. PhilWiki Community sent Maffeth Opiana-Sto. Tomas and Bernadette F. Roco as official delegates to the conference. It held an executive meeting with Commons Photographers User Group after the photowalk in Manila during the ESEAP Summit 2025 on May 25, 2025 initiated by the user groups.

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June

Group photo with their outputs

• June 1 - The PhilWiki Community turns 10 years old! 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. It will release a 3-part article on the PhilWiki Community’s 10 Milestones, celebrating 10 amazing years.
• June 6–8 - The organization conducted the Capacity Building Workshop at Aguirangan View Hotel in Maagas, Presentacion, Camarines Sur. The aim of this activity is to come up with a project roadmap to support the promotion of free knowledge and our shared objectives reflected in the annual plan for 2025-2026. The project roadmap which outlines the sequence of activities involved in implementing, enhancing, or upgrading solutions will support the organization achieve its goals in the succeeding years. During the workshop, participants had an exchange of ideas based on their own experience in project management and collaborate with each other in exploring the most effective strategies and innovations that can be used throughout the year.

• June 11–12 - Fifteen (15) translation fellows comprising 5 primary and senior high school teachers, a published writer, a graduate student in creative writing, and 8 undergraduate students taking up education participated in the inaugural Hablon-Usipon Children's Book Translation Workshop to collaborate in producing free licensed reading materials through the StoryWeaver platform.

Committed to enriching different communities through literature and translation, the PhilWiki Community partnered with the PB Writers Inc. and the San Miguel Bay Writers Workshop with the hope of encouraging outcome-driven and enthusiastic individuals to produce culturally relevant materials which are accessible to young readers. The 2-day translation workshop was held in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the PhilWiki Community's founding.

• June 28–29 - The Fourth Wikimedia meet-up in Cebu took place in Cebu City. Seven Wikimedians participated in activities that included a planning meeting and ocular visits for the upcoming Cebu WikiConference 2025. The conference organizing team aims to partner with the National Museum of the Philippines-Cebu, and the Cebu City Public Library.

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July

Beginning of activities in the approved 2025-2026 Annual Plan

Local Wiki Loves Earth organising countries

• July 1–August 31 - Now on its 8th year, the 2025 edition of Wiki Loves Earth in the Philippines was launched to promote the natural heritage sites of the Philippines. The competition is part of the international annual photography competition. The Philippines has been participating since 2018. With the help of the competition we have over 6,000 pictures uploaded under creative commons license.
• July 1–August 31 - The 2-month long Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos Philippines (WPWPPH) was initiated by Marvin Molin and Roderick Sumalinog. The annual campaign is dedicated to enriching Wikipedia by adding illustration to articles without any image. Wikipedia editors across the world, Wikipedia language projects and communities add photos to Wikipedia articles lacking photos to promote the use of digital media files collected from various Wikimedia photography contests, photowalks organized by the Wikimedia community, on Wikipedia article pages. Photos help to grasp the reader's attention better than a wall of text, illustrate content, and make the article more instructive and engaging for readers.

As a result, the total number of files added was 1,269, while the total number of pages improved was 1,039. The number of users adding files (all WP projects) was nine (9), and the number of Wikipedia language projects with added files was five (5) projects.

• July 11–31 - The Student Wikipedian Community in Waseda University Tokyo and CBSUA Wiki Club became sister clubs paving way to the Wikimedia Japan-Philippines Friendship Editing Month. The Wikimedia Japan-Philippines Friendship is a project organized by Wikimedians who are active in Philippines or Japanese Wikimedia community. This project aims to enrich Wikimedia contents about Philippine or Japan and strengthen the collaboration between the two communities. Specifically, the project aims to contribute to Wikimedia projects about something related to Japan, and the Philippines. The organizers hope that this project will help Wikimedians learn about each other and strengthen the friendship.

August

• August 22–24 - The Cebu WikiConference 2025 was a 3-day national conference of contributors on Wikimedia projects held in Cebu, Philippines. This conference brought together participants from various Wikimedia communities to strengthen collaborations, better understand the issues faced by contributors, and seek solutions. The highlight of the WikiConference was the conversation about whether to delete or save Cebuano Wikipedia.

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• August 30 - Announcing the Top 15 entries in the Wiki Loves Earth Philippines 2025 photography competition!

Winning the grand prize in this year's edition is Domzjuniorwildlife for his photograph of Brown Throated Sunbird - Female taken at Mapawa Nature Park.

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  Brown Throated Sunbird - Female taken at Mapawa Nature Park.
  Photograph: Domzjuniorwildlife
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  Above and beneath.
  Photograph: Suiem
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  Female Magnificent Sunbird
  Photograph: Emman Asuncion Foronda
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  Philippine Pit Viper (trimeresurus flavomaculatus).
  Photograph: Kramthenik27
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  Model bees (Megachile labascens)..
  Photograph: Kramthenik27
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  The Philippine Serpent Eagle is found only in the Philippines, making it a unique part of the country's natural heritage.
  Photograph: Mhlayson
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  The wild waves crashing through the rocks of Patar in Bolinao, Pangasinan.
  Photograph: Froirivera
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  A swirling ball of countless reef fish forms a mesmerizing bait ball beneath the clear waters of Tawi-Tawi, captured amid vibrant coral reefs teeming with marine life.
  Photograph: Rauxilian
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  Green Metallic Weevil from Infanta, Quezon, Philippines.
  Photograph: Behind the Lens
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  Long snout weevil (Cercidocerus lateralis).
  Photograph: Kramthenik27
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  A natural rock formation on the northwestern tip of Burgos, Ilocos Norte.
  Photograph: Rollymagpayo
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  Pachyrhynchus moniliferus.
  Photograph: Kramthenik27
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  Recently discovered a striking color variation of Metapocyrtus reyesi, a weevil species typically known for its dark blue to cobalt blue coloration.
  Photograph: Kramthenik27
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  Tinago Falls - Like the rushing falls, life never pauses - leap with belief, and flow into who you’re meant to be.
  Photograph: HCTUB222
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  The lobster Moth caterpillar.
  Photograph: Kramthenik27

Raul S. Roco-Naga City Public ibrary

• August 30–31 - The PhilWiki Community, Sumaro Bikolnon and Parasurat Bikolnon jointly celebrated the Language Month in a back-to-back event dubbed as Buwan ng Wiki. At Raul S. Roco-Naga City Public Library, the celebration aimed to enrich Bikol Wiktionary, the free online dictionary and thesaurus that anyone can edit, and other local Wikimedia projects.

Participants involving teachers, cultural workers and content editors added new definitions backed with sources to local word entries on Wiktionary, added images on Wikipedia articles lacking illustrations, and transcribed and proofread digitized manuscripts on Wikisource pages. Wikimedia projects such as Wiktionary, the free dictionary and thesaurus; Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia; and Wikisource, the free digital library, are available in the Philippine languages including Central Bikol and Tagalog.

Buwan ng Wiki celebration concluded at the launching of Sumaro Bikolnon’s Dawani cultural magazine at FishCove on August 31st. Together with Sumaro Bikolnon founder Ramon Olaño Jr. and members of the reorganized cultural organization who has been an advocate of local knowledge in the Bikol language, the PhilWiki Community and Parasurat Bikolnon celebrated the 20,000th article on the Bikol Wikipedia, the most vibrant Philippine language based Wikipedia edition.

September

• September 23 - The Basic Wikipedia Training and Feminism & Folklore 2025 culminating activity was held at CHDC Conference Room of the Central Bicol State University of Agriculture. The CBSUA Wiki Education, in partnership with PhilWiki Community, capped its activity for the Feminism and Folklore 2025 in the Philippines with thirty-eight out of the 54 completers from the College of Education received their certificates for completing an 8-hour training which covered the following topics: Basic Overview of Wikipedia’s Core Policies and Guidelines; Navigating and Editing Wikipedia; Evaluating Articles and Sources; and Translating Articles.

October

Local Wiki Loves Monuments organising countries

• October 1–31 - The Philippines among the 57 countries and territories to join the Wiki Loves Monuments 2025. The annual international contest aims to promote historic sites around the World through Wikimedia projects. The PhilWiki Community has been organizing Wiki Loves Monuments in the Philippines since 2018, in collaboration with the Commons Photographers User Group since 2023. At the end of the month, a total of 288 amazing free-licensed photographs were collected.

• October 11–November 30 - The Wikisource Loves Manuscripts Philippines (WILMA PH) Training of Trainers Program Year 2 officially opened at PAGCOR Hall, Balatas, Naga City, highlighting the vital role of archiving, digitization, and digital repatriation in preserving cultural heritage and valuable manuscripts. The program aims to develop a pool of trainers who will work with GLAM institutions in building an accessible online repository of manuscripts through training, tutorials, and mentorship. The Philippines is the first country to implement WILMA outside Indonesia.

The training is spearheaded by the Philippine Wikimedia Community User Group, Bikol Wikipedia Community, and Nueva Caceres Heritage Movement, Inc., in partnership with the City Government of Naga and the UNC Wiki Club, in response to the call for digitizing old publications.

Participants joined the Wikisource Loves Manuscripts Philippines Transcribe-a-thon Challenge 2025.

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  WILMA PH TOT 2025 launch
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  Session 2
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  Session 3
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GLAM Wiki 2025 held in Lisbon, Portugal.

• October 30–November 1 PhilWiki Community participated at GLAM Wiki 2025, the global Wikimedia GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, museums) Conference held from October 30 to November 1, 2025, in Lisbon, Portugal, where Wikimedia volunteers and cultural heritage professionals from around the world gathered to explore the theme “Resilience: Shaping the Future Through Community and Openness.” The event featured panels, workshops, strategy sessions, and collaborative exchanges focused on open knowledge, cultural preservation, and innovative GLAM-Wiki practices, providing PhilWiki Community delegates a valuable platform to share Philippine open-knowledge initiatives, connect with international peers, and bring back insights and tools to strengthen local GLAM collaborations and Wikimedia projects in the Philippines.

November

Wikimedia Photographers during the 8th International Bird Photography Race

• November 7–9 - The PhilWiki Community participated in the 8th International Bird Photography Race at the Puerto Princesa Underground River international. The teams consisted of Wiki Loves Philippines 2022 top winners. Team Wiki Loves Birds PH was composed of 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, while Wikimedia Photographers was formed this year with the following members, all international winners: Herbert Kikoy (WL Folkore 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. They also conducted Wiki Takes Puerto Princesa City to increase the quality and quantity of free licensed images of bird species and different sites of the city on Wikimedia Commons.

• November 15–December 31 - Now on its second year, the Wiki Loves Birds 2025 in the Philippines will run from November 15 to December 31, 2025. The activity includes a photo contest and community outreach, aiming to promote bird appreciation and create freely licensed bird photographs for Wikimedia Commons. It also seeks to inspire communities to document and protect the beauty of Philippine wildlife. The campaign is in partnership with the Commons Photographers User Group.

• November 15–December 31 - The PhilWiki Community organizes the Philippine edition of the Wiki Science Competition 2025 in the Philippines, a biennial international science photography competition. The competition was first organized in Estonia, and expanded to the rest of the world in 2017.

The competition is divided into seven categories: People in science, Microscopy, Astronomy, Image sets, Wildlife and nature, and General. The Philippine jury will select five finalists from each category to submit to the international competition.

• November 18 - The Central Bicol State University of Agriculture (CBSUA) and the Philippine Wikimedia Community Inc. (PhilWiki Community) formally sealed a partnership on November 18, 2025, through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding at the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation. The collaboration aims to strengthen CBSUA Wiki Education initiatives and expand access to open knowledge.

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  Presentation
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  CBSUA and PH-WC
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  MOU signing ceremony
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  PH-WC Secretary and President
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  VP on Finance representing CBSUA President and VP on Research and Innovation
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  Group photo

December

• December 1 - Announcing the Top 10 entries in the Wiki Loves Monument Philippines 2025 photography competition!

Winning the grand prize in this year's edition is Richmond Chi for his photograph of Ayala Bridge.

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  Ayala Bridge. Photographer: Richmond Chi
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  Santa Monica Parish Church (Sarrat). Photographer: Emman Asuncion Foronda
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  Miagao Church. Photographer: Alvin Casitas
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  Old Silay Port. Photographer: Herbertkikoy
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  Manila Cathedral. Photographer: MikeZMijares
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  Sanctuario de San Jose. Photographer: Emman Asuncion Foronda
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  San Agustin Church (Manila). Photographer: Jsinglador
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  Archdiocese of Cebu. Photographer: Hams nocete
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  Manila Cathedral. Photographer: Juanitoooww

SheSaid 2025 in the Philippines on English Wikiquote

• December 1, 2025–March 31, 2026 - The year 2025 marks the first participation of WikiWomen Filipinas and the Philippine Wikimedia Community User Group. The SheSaid 2025 in the Philippines is part of the international campaign which runs from 1 September to 31 December 2025. The local campaign covers the period from 1 December 2025 to 31 March 2026. The SheSaid campaign of Wiki Loves Women aims to enrich the platforms of free knowledge — notably Wikiquote, Wikipedia and Wikidata — it gives tribute to the words, ideas, and achievements of inspiring women, including Filipinas, thus bridging the gender gap still present in the digital world.

• December 9, 16 and 17 - The Central Bicol State University of Agriculture continues to highlight its growing commitment to open knowledge and digital literacy through the CBSUA Wiki Education Program. College students, and faculty members and personnel from the Knowledge Management Center, and University Extension Services Office participated in the Intro to Wikipedia and Wiki Referencing Workshop held at the main campus in Pili, Camarines Sur, and via online.

In a series of webinar on Sources and Citations held on December 9 and 16, around thirty (30) third year BS Education majors under Jerome Hipolito of the College of Education introduced to proper adding references and citations through the #1Lib1Ref and the ongoing #SheSaid Campaigns. Most of the participants have completed the Wikipedia Training Modules and participated during the Feminism and Folklore Campaign on Bikol Wikipedia.

CBSUA Vice President for Research and Innovation Dariel Palmiano and Extension and Services Office chairperson Abegail Guinoo, along with resident Wikipedians Marvin Molin and Leah Sumalinog who serve in the PhilWiki Community Board, supervised and facilitated the training, respectively.

The Wiki Education program at CBSUA has steadily expanded its presence within and beyond the university campuses, including Pili, Calabanga and Sipocot.