DAVAO CITY, – Presidential Communications Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar challenged public and private information officers nationwide to aggressively disseminate quality and accurate information to combat the proliferation of disinformation, misinformation and fake news that tend to confuse the Filipinos.
Speaking before over 1,800 public and private information officers who attended the first-ever National Information Convention at the SMX Convention Canter here last February 19-21, 2018, Secretary Andanar pointed out that the major problems confronting the country today is alleged disinformation, misinformation and fake news that seem to result to divisiveness among the Filipinos all over the world, thus, the need for information and communication officers to individually and collectively work for the aggressive dissemination of quality and accurate report that will allow critical thinking among the people.
The PCOO chief expressed his gratitude to the public and private information officers that spent their time, effort and resources in attending the gathering for them to be able to combat the proliferation of fake news in the country that tend to affect the implementation of the government’s priority programs and projects.
“We at the PCOO have worked tirelessly in improving and strengthening our government’s communication platforms. We held this as our primary initiative so that information officers will have the necessary tools, mechanisms and capabilities to be a messenger of change, to tell the stories of our nation, narrating how we have come to this crucial historical stage,” Secretary Andanar stressed.
The PCOO chief explained that under President Rodrigo Duterte, who makes change happen radically, decisively and swiftly, every Filipino life is infused with quality, dignity and honor and the present administration had made great stories in making the government communication channels more up to date and influential, thus, government media has become more visible and affecting on-air, online, on-print and on-ground.
Among the gains of the various government channels include the fact that Peoples Television (PTV) increased transmission of 25,000 to 55,000 and then 120,000 kilowatts in 2018 for clearer image and wider reach and PTV ranked fourth in the Kantar Media third quarter media report due to new shows, re-scheduled programming and focus on news content, Radyo Pilipinas renovated the facilities and upgraded the equipment to produce better quality of broadcasting, allowing multi-media content to be transmitted to different parts of the country including the remote areas in provinces and even in islands, increasing followers from 20,000 to 1.3 million, strengthened multi-media production and content for the digital medium with 4.5 million weekly views and 2 million post engagements, posting of over 100 articles per day in the Philippine News Agency website and awareness of government programs, policies and services to make sure that those in the grassroots who need government information the most are made aware of how they can avail of the said services.
Secretary Andanar assured the public and private information officers of continuing engagements to strengthen the spread of quality, accurate and developmental information that will help achieve the desired change being advocated by the present administration.
By Dexter A. See