I have been working at WordPress.com since 2014, and it is the longest tenure I have had with any company. In many ways, it feels like home to me. However, when I arrived in Manila last Sunday to attend the first WordCamp Asia in the Philippines with some of my colleagues, it was a homecoming in the truest sense.

As someone born and raised in Manila, I was thrilled to see the global WordPress community gather in the bustling streets of my hometown. Out of nearly 1,800 attendees, approximately one-third were locals from various parts of the Philippines, representing the country’s 7,107 islands.

The Philippines has a strong affinity for WordPress, with hundreds of thousands of new signups on WordPress.com alone every month. This consistently ranks the Philippines among the top five countries globally for new WordPress users.

The Philippine International Convention Center, a Brutalist structure from the 1970s, served as the official venue for WordCamp Asia 2025. The venue’s massive halls, high ceilings, and bright red carpets were shared with local university graduates, but the complex was spacious enough to accommodate everyone comfortably.

Matias Ventura, the lead architect of Gutenberg, began the official conference schedule with a thought-provoking and inspiring keynote that outlined an exciting future for WordPress, centered around delivering a seamless and intuitive user experience.

A packed schedule of workshops and talks followed, where attendees could engage with various topics, including a discussion by Elementor’s Miriam Schwab on the basics of GPL, a presentation by digital marketer Chiaki Kouno on the key elements of a successful multilingual WordPress site, and a session by Keiko Muto on getting started with building an accessible website, among many others.

On Friday evening, the WordPress.com team hosted a meet-and-greet happy hour, where we had the pleasure of meeting local and regional WordPress.com users. Special thanks to Nicole King, Carlo Carrasco, George Buid, Ajit Bohra and his colleagues from LUBUS, Vivek Jain and his team from rtCamp, Tom and Vicky Morton, and Dika and Diane Fei for spending the evening with us.

Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, concluded the three-day conference with a Q&A session in Meeting Room 1, also known as Rizal Hall. The room’s elegant atmosphere provided a fitting backdrop for the occasion.

Rizal Hall is named after Jose Rizal, the Philippines’ national hero and a 19th-century polymath who fought for freedom of speech and assembly. His legacy made the location a poignant choice for the conclusion of a conference dedicated to the values of open source and freedom.

In case you missed the conference, don’t worry! Most of the workshops and talks, including the keynotes, are now available for viewing on the official WordPress YouTube channel.If you’re interested in attending WordCamp Asia 2026, we’d be delighted to have you join us! WordCamp is open to everyone, regardless of your background or experience, whether you’re a developer, marketer, designer, support engineer, blogger, or simply curious about WordPress. For more information about local and regional WordCamps, visit the WordCamp Central site.For those in Asia, mark your calendars for WordCamp Asia 2026, which will take place in Mumbai, India. We look forward to seeing you there! Start planning now for WordCamp Asia 2026.