TXTPower

Student leader and blogger Raymond “Mong” Palatino, one of the convenors of TXTPower, was recently sworn in as a Member of Congress, becoming the first ever youth representative to be elected in the House of Representatives.

One of Mong’s first acts as representative of partylist group Kabataan (Youth) was to urge the Commission on Elections to extend the period of registration of new voters for the 2010 elections.

Kabataan partylist also established online and mobile phone hotlines where students and parents can bring their complaints as the nation prepares for the opening of the new school year this June.

Global Voices Online dubbed him Blogger of the Week on May 16. Palatino is arguably the first blogger to be elected as Member of Congress.

Both as a TXTPower convenor and student leader, Palatino showed the Washington Post in 2006 how mobile phones help guide student activists in staging protest actions.

Along with two other new activist solons, Mong took his oath as Member of Congress on April 27 before Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio in Manila.

Read more about Mong, and check his victory message.