MANILA, Philippines ? The Philippines joins 50 countries and cities worldwide on Tuesday in a global celebration of OneWebDay, the Earth Day counterpart for the Internet, with the first-ever celebration in the country to be held mainly at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City, and preceded by a similar celebration at SM-Baliuag on Friday.

Hosting the celebration is the Philippine Internet Users? Society (PIUS) with Event Philippines Inc. as co-organizer for the main celebration at SM Mall of Asia and Brotherhood of Destiny (BROOD) for Friday?s festivity at SM Baliuag.

PIUS Chief Executive Officer Michael M. Alunan said that the annual OneWebDay celebration was started in 2004 by Susan Crawford, now an adviser of President Barack Obama on science and technological innovation, to highlight the importance of the Internet in terms of empowering the individual, enhancing social networking, and contributing to economic growth and development thru e-commerce and better access to information.

?And because PIUS is run like a movement on the strength of volunteerism, anyone can go ahead celebrate OneWebDay by teaching a non-user, for instance, how to use the Internet and joining PIUS thru its website at www.piusonline.com,? Alunan said.

He suggested that such initiatives be e-mailed to to PIUS ?so we can consolidate them along with the unusual stories of how the Internet has helped individuals and businesses.?

Imee de Maiztagni of Event Philippines, a volunteer event organizer, said the Sept. 22 event will feature a mini exhibit, free computer tutorials and computer repair, a symposium on various Internet issues, a grand eye-ball meeting and sharing to be called Online Pinoy Entrepreneurs Networking (OPEN), caricature sketches, historic mass wall signing, symbolic depositing of public messages in time capsule, and a band concert to be participated by popular bands like South Border, Alamid, Version 4.0, and singers like Luke Mijares and others willing to support the OneWebDay celebration and the PIUS advocacy.