PhilWiki Community

The Philippine Wikimedia Community, Inc., an affiliate organization established as Philippine Wikimedia Community User Group or PhilWiki Community (PH-WC), is a free, open and vibrant organization of Filipino volunteers and content editors from the Philippines and all over the world, who believe in the mission and vision of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. As a recognized affiliate organization, our community aims to initiate, promote, participate, create, organize, develop and engage in projects, programs and activities that promote free, responsibly open-content resources and reference materials, in English and in different Philippine languages through cost-effective, creative and innovative projects and partnerships with local government units, government agencies, academia, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.

On 1 June 2015, the PhilWiki Community was formed as an organization of unaffiliated Wikipedians in the Philippines. The Affiliations Committee (AffCom) of Wikimedia Foundation recognized the Community on 17 October 2015. The Philippine Wikimedia Community intends to become a chapter in the future.

The Philippines is one of the world’s most linguistically diverse countries, with over 190 documented languages. However, under the 1987 Constitution, only Tagalog (officially called ‘Filipino’) and English are recognized as the country’s official languages. As a result, many of these regional languages are experiencing a decline in use and there is often a shortage of written material.

PhilWiki Community (PH-WC) aims to promote and increase the daily use of Philippine languages and deploy Wikipedia as a resource and medium for the dissemination of open knowledge and learning through these languages. It represents and supports the activities of the various Philippine Wikipedias, among other Wikimedia projects, in the country’s most widely-spoken but nevertheless marginalized languages including, Cebuano, Waray, Ilocano, Bikol, Kapampangan, Zamboanga Chavacano and Pangasinan, as well as the national language Tagalog (Filipino), and projects which are still in incubation namely Aklan, Capiznon, Hiligaynon, Kinaray-a, Maranao, Miraya Bikol, Pandan Bikol, Rinconada Bikol, and Tausug. By giving these regional languages an internationally recognized and prestigious platform for their users, our Community hopes to raise their profiles and remove any stigma attached to speaking and using them.

In less than five years since its foundation, PH-WC has grown from strength to strength as evidenced by the numerous activities it has organized and participated in all over the Philippines to further its aim of promoting the nation’s many languages and cultures, as well as the growth of the various Philippine Wikipedias. As part of its inclusive and pluralistic focus, the organization is currently presiding over various outreach programs aimed at reaching out to marginalized groups in the Philippines. It always welcomes volunteers and participants who share our broad vision and encourage everyone with an interest to take part.

1. To create, organize, develop, engage, initiate, support, promote, and participate in projects, programs and activities that promote free, responsibly open-content resources and reference materials in English and Philippine languages, and of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
2. To collaborate, cooperate, network, and associate with Chapters and User Groups of Wikimedians as well as with institutions, organizations and individuals to promote the free culture movement.

1. To conduct edit-a-thons in universities and libraries that will encourage students, teachers and other individuals to the use of the local languages in writing Wikipedia articles on literature, local histories, culture and traditions, and the arts;
2. To increase entries of Tagalog Wiktionary and to create editions in Bikol Sentral, Pangasinan, and Cebuano;
3. To activate the Bikol Rinconada Wikipedia and Hiligaynon Wikipedia;
4. To translate the interface of Wikimedia projects in Bikol Sentral, Tagalog, Pangasinan and Cebuano;
5. To contribute images, audios and videos to Wikimedia Commons about the Philippines through photo-scavenger hunts, edit-a-thons, cultural walks, cruises, expeditions and tours.

See History

The Affiliations Committee of Wikimedia Foundation provisionally approved the Community on 17 October 2015 for three months. The group's first activities in its initial period of recognition were outreach events: Offline Wikipedia DVD Distribution held at Minalabac Central School, Minalabac town in Camarines Sur, supporting edit-a-thons namely the 3rd Waray Wikipedia Edit-a-thon held at Catbalogan in Samar , 4th Waray Wikipedia Edit-a-thon held at Catarman in Northern Samar and 2015 Waray Wikimedia Forums at Greater Tacloban held in Tacloban City and Palo town both in Leyte province , and Wikipedia Takes Rinconada was launched in Iriga City, Camarines Sur.

Its first constitution and by-laws were adopted on 1 June 2016 and the first set of officers and board of trustees were elected on 28 March 2018. The community adopted its new constitution and by-laws on 21 May 2019 and it received the recognition as a non-stock non-profit company from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Republic of the Philippines on 18 June 2019.

There are eight (8) existing Philippine language-based Wikipedia projects namely Bikol Sentral , Cebuano , Chavacano Zamboangueño , Kapampangan , Ilokano , Pangasinan , Tagalog and Waray . Each of these languages has at least one million native speakers, except for Chavacano Zamboangueño which is threatened to be closed down for lack of editing activity. Among the existing proposed Wikipedia projects, Hiligaynon has over a million native speakers while Capiznon , Kinaray-a , Miraya Bikol and Rinconada Bikol have tens to hundreds of thousands native speakers. The Community strongly opposed the proposal to close down the Cebuano Wikipedia .

There have been contributors who actively promote Wikipedia projects in different parts of the country: Pangasinan Wikipedia in Lingayen, Pangasinan (Ilocos Region ), Kapampangan Wikipedia in Angeles City (Central Luzon Region ), Tagalog Wikipedia in Manila (National Capital Region ), Bikol Sentral Wikipedia in Naga City and Rinconada Bikol Wikipedia in Iriga City (both in Bicol Region ) and Waray Wikipedia in Tacloban City (Eastern Visayas Region ).

Total Articles: 7,492,212
Total Edits: 45,915,608

Other projects are in Incubator.

See Membership

Contact us through these email addresses:

Maffeth Opiana, maffeth.opiana@gmail.com

Bernadette F. Roco, badetteflorendoroco@gmail.com

Philippine Wikimedia Community
Wiki Loves Earth Philippines
Wiki Loves Folklore in the Philippines
Wiki Loves Fashion in the Philippines
Wiki Loves Monuments PH
Wiki Loves Food Philippines
WPWP Campaign PH
Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom PH

• Recognition of Philippine Wikimedia Community User Group (or PhilWiki Community) - October 2015
• Renewal of PhilWiki Community - August 2016