Web, media personalities flock to Hillary's Manila forum

Prominent web personalities, media celebrities, and student leaders from around the country on Wednesday flocked to US State Secretary and former First Lady Hillary Clinton’s A Conversation in Manila at the National Museum. Among the 105 guests present during Wednesday's social media event — "Hillary Clinton: A conversation in Manila" — were GMA Network pillars Jessica Soho and Mel Tiangco, and media personalities Winnie Monsod, Maria Ressa, and Patricia Evangelista. Also invited to the event were bloggers Brian Ong, Noem Lardizabal-Dado, Vince Golangco, and Janette Toral, as well as entertainment celebrities Maxene Magalona, Heart Evangelista, and Isabelle Daza who are known to be active in social media. The event — airing live on GMA News TV and live streamed on GMA News Online — is hosted by Ramon Bautista and moderated by GMA News Online editor-in-chief Howie Severino and host Vicky Morales. Questions to Clinton are sourced from the audience and social media sites Twitter and Facebook. Clinton is in Manila to mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Philippine-US Mutual Defense Treaty and to launch the Partnership for Growth (PFG) initiative of the Obama administration in the Philippines. Before the forum, she had a luncheon meeting with President Benigno Aquino III. Clinton arrived in Manila on Tuesday afternoon. She will leave the country Wednesday night for Bangkok. — VS/YA, GMA News