18 years of Philippine Internet marked

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Internet pioneers Bombim Cadiz (then of Xavier University of Cagayan de Oro City), Arnie del Rosario (then of Ateneo de Manila University), Dr. Rudy Villarica (then of the Industrial Research Foundation), Benjie Tan (then of Comnet), and Kelsey Hartigan-Go (then of De La Salle University) reminisce on the events of March 29, 1994 — the day when the country first officially logged on to the Internet. Members of the groundbreaking group have since moved on to different companies and have become the premiere movers of the telecoms and Internet industries both here and abroad. Seen at center is a desktop computer sporting one of the first popular Internet browsers, Netscape Navigator. The reunion trended on Twitter using the hashtag #PhilNet18 and is presently being used by Filipino Netizens to recall their first memories of the Internet. Smart Communications played a crucial role in making the Internet accessible to millions of Filipinos nationwide as it introduced and popularized affordable prepaid and postpaid packages.