Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or do not have an internet connection where you live), then you are probably aware of the shit storm that recently hit the Philippine blogging community. I am, of course, talking about the Big Bad Blogger.

For the uninformed, the Big Bad Blogger (BBB for short) has been accused of extorting exhorbitant amounts of money from local establishments, to post positive reviews of their goods and services on his blog. If the business owner refused to give in to the BBB’s demands, then a negative review will be published thereby discouraging prospective customers from patronizing said shop.

In connection to this, a huge fuss has also been raised over the freebies and cash gifts other bloggers have been offered to distribute press releases or publish positive reviews on goods and services by local PR firms. Overall, the BBB issue has cast a pall over the otherwise progressive and nonpartisan view of bloggers and blogging in the Philippines.

I am writing this post to reassure readers of magnetic-rose.net that I will never willingly deceive them by posting reviews and opinions on events, merchandise, and services that have been tainted by under-the-table transactions. And although I cannot say that I have never received any gratuity in connection to posts published on magnetic-rose.net, I will always make it a point to provide a full disclosure at the end of each post so that readers are aware that certain arrangements have been made.

If you still have concerns, then I will be happy to discuss them with you. Please send me an e-mail via our Contact page or via Private Messaging at any of the three official social media sites for magnetic-rose.net. Thanks everyone! We’ll be back with our regular programming very shortly.