CEBU CITY — The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) is introducing barangay journalism to communities in the country to maximize the programs of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Lawyer Ana Marie Rafael-Banaag, PCOO Assistant Secretary for Operations and Special Concerns, said on Tuesday it is important for the PCOO to get direct feedback from the countryside, especially on the implementation of government programs, and one way of doing this is through barangay journalism.
“Barangay journalism is now in the works with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). We’re working on engaging with DILG and barangay officials so that they can appoint or recommend somebody who can make reports either through the Philippine News Agency (PNA) or through Radyo Pilipinas directly to Manila,” Banaag said.
“And if there’s something we want to verify from the barangays, especially from far-flung and remote areas where communication network is slow, we can easily get it from the barangay journalist,” Banaag added.
Banaag and some PCOO staff were in Cebu on Tuesday on behalf of Secretary Martin Andanar to engage with all information officers from the local government units and the private sector and forge a partnership with them.
“We are here because we want to maximize the programs of the administration. As a communications office, it is the PCOO’s job to make sure that the programs of the government’s Executive Branch would reach their intended beneficiaries,” Banaag told her audience.
Any program of any government agency would not succeed if the people don’t know anything about it, according to Banaag, adding that information dissemination is vital to the success of a program.
“And that’s the only way for all of these to succeed. And with that, of course, we in the PCOO recognize that we could not do it all by ourselves, despite the help of our line agencies like the Philippine Information Agency, Radyo Pilipinas, PTV 4 and the PNA. We need you (information officers) because you are the ones who meet and talk with the citizenry,” Banaag said.
Meanwhile, Cebu Association of City and Municipal Public Information Officers (CAOCAMPIO) president Sofronio Pintado said he gladly welcomes the introduction of barangay journalism as this would help them gather more information from their constituents.
In fact, Pintado said he has already tapped some people as his barangay “correspondents” for his local radio program in Tuburan, Cebu. Pintado is the municipal PIO of Tuburan town.
“Barangay journalism would make it easier for us to get information from the barangays. We won’t be going to the hinterlands anymore. My correspondents currently are fisherfolk,” Pintado said. (Luel Galarpe/PNA)
