TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan – Members of the Cordillera Administrative Region – Media Educators on Nutrition (CAR-MENU) recently visited the city to benchmark with the members of the Balay ni Ifan relative to the implementation of media initiatives for the aggressive promotion of healthy lifestyle and good nutrition programs to empower people to observe proper nutrition in their daily lives.
The 3-day benchmarking program was a joint project of the CAR-MENU and the Cordillera office of the National Nutrition Council (NNC-CAR) purposely to learn from the members of the Balay ni Ifan, the media group of Region II that was organized to assist the NNC Region II to advance the promotion of nutrition programs in the different media outfits in the area.
Members of the Balay ni Ifan presented to the CAR-MENU members a long line of activities which they were able to implement over the past 9 years of existence of the media group that earned its distinction as one of the most active media groups in the country advocating the numerous nutrition programs and projects of the government that helped in helping the people embrace good nutrition and healthy lifestyle.
The Balay ni Ifan members, who are mostly editors and publishers of local newspapers and managers of radio and cable stations in Region II, emphasized the importance of the commitment of media practitioners in advocating the practice of good nutrition through various innovative means because good nutrition and healthy lifestyle is endowed with public interest that needs to be advanced by public servants like media practitioners.
Members of the CAR-MENU who joined the benchmarking activity included Marilou Guieb of Business Mirror, Dennis Dionisio of the Philippine News Agency, Rimaliza Opina of Baguio Midland Courier, Rose Malekchan of MPBC-DZWT, Wenilyn Asuncion of Baguio Chronicle, Joseph Manzano of RPN-DZBS and Herald Express and Dexter A. See of the City Public Information Office, Herald Express and Manila Standard.
Balay ni Ifan members expressed optimism in the successful implementation of numerous nutrition-related initiatives and activities of their counterparts in the CAR-MENU and urged them to strive for the delivery of quality messages that will empower the people to practice good nutrition and healthy lifestyle that will lead to better quality of life for them in the future.
More importantly, the members of the Region II media group motivated the CAR-MENU members not to be disappointed if there are some media practitioners in their areas of coverage who seem not to be interested in supporting their advocacies because there will always be a time that they will realize the importance of joining the group and helping empower people to be mindful of their health through good nutrition.
CAR-MENU was organized in 2012 and existed through the years as the partner of the NNC-AR in advocating the various programs of the agency relative to good nutrition in the different parts of the region through the different media platforms.
The Cordillera media delegation was accompanied by NNC-CAR personnel Nancy Paclos and John Carl Legaspi who patiently coordinated the conduct of the said benchmarking event with their counterparts in the Cagayan Valley region.
By HENT
