PIA chief calls for support to whoever wins in May 9 elections

By Jocelyn P. Alvarez

ZAMBOANGA CITY, May 4 (PIA) - Director General Ramon Cualoping of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) called for support to the country's next set of leaders as May 9 national and local elections draw near. 

"Whoever wins on May 9, whoever sits in Malacañang, he or she, we need to help our leaders, our secretaries, our generals, our fellow workers in government to make our lives easier as communicators," DG Cualoping tells information officers (IOs) during the General Assembly and Oath-taking of the Mindanao Communicators Network (MCN), held recently. 

Cualoping puts his trust that the MCN will continously strive for better communications between the government and the stakeholders.

"It is not enough that we just turn out news items, not enough that we just inform people, obviously we need to 

ExplainExplainExplain the policies and programs of government," he said. 

Cualoping underscored that it is incumbent upon IOs, as communicators who are considered enablers, to make sure that people truly understand the government's policies as people can be susceptible and vulnerable to fake news and can easily be preyed on by the things that they read or see on social media. 

"Fake news is like a virus, it easily spreads and mutates easily as well, noong unang panahon, tawag dyan chismis, ngayon, fake news na," a joke he dropped but meant as truth. 

Cualoping encouraged government IOs, as ambassadors of the government, to take that extra step, that extra mile to not just inform, but to fully explain as well the  policies, programs or the new guidelines, regulations,  because "as we always say in PIA, a well informed Filipino is an empowered Filipino," he said. Cualoping believed that a well informed Filipino should be a critical thinker, someone who can discern, decipher things well. 

"When you become critical thinker, you become a thought leader, and when you become thought leader, you are able to make informed and wise decisions and that will truly make us empowered Filipinos, empowered citizens of this great nation." (RVC/JPA/Zamboanga Sibugay)