At the helm of one of the country's largest and most active dad communities on Facebook to date, DadBudPH, is advertising entrepreneur and food content creator Joey Ong. He founded the community in 2019 when his wife was pregnant, initially as a way to seek counsel from more experienced dads.

"Back then, I didn't know much about being a dad and there weren't a lot of communities that brought dads together the way mom groups did. It became a platform to share personal experiences, get inspired and really just spread the good vibes of fatherhood."

Last November 2022, it became the only parenting group in the Philippines to be invited to the coveted Facebook accelerator program which kicked off in Singapore as a thrust to help grow the community further.

Since then, DadBudPH has steadily grown and recently hit gold with over 50,000 members — an unprecedented 90 percent. Fueled by dads and dad figures of various ages, socio-economic classes and locations, the community brings to life topics related to fatherhood — parenting, family, homes, humor, entertainment, food, fitness, gadgets, pop culture and more.

To celebrate the golden milestone of over 50,000 members, Joey recently kicked off DadBud Academy, a program that brings dads together in a series of physical events to learn, enjoy and be inspired for a better future. This is an untapped initiative and a novel way to honor and empower fathers year-round.

The pilot event entitled "Dad Talks" was held at Robinsons Galleria's Robinsons Movieworld and Playlab, where established dads shared their stories to inspire other dads. TV personality Kim Atienza, former seminarian Romulo Velasco, Filipino-American actor Troy Montero, "ausome" parenting dad Ron Ramos, Kalye Negosyo and Potato Corner founder Jorge Wieneke, and Emmanuel Manansala and Ed Embradora from LIV Ministries spoke to an audience of close to 200 dads and their families, giving them a glimpse of their personal journeys and how they became who they are today.