Public Information Officer (PIO) Designate Janice Abrogar-Guarin of Mangaldan town in Pangasinan was adjudged as the Best News Writer during the workshop of the three-day general assembly and training of Region 1 Government Info Officers (IOs) held recently at the Brentwood Apartelle, Baguio City.
The convention dubbed “M4mation Officers Para sa Bagong Pilipinas” was organized by the Association of Region 1 Government Officers (ARGIO) and the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Region 1 with the objective to train the region’s IOs to be “Maagap, Mahusay at Malusog na Information Officers Para sa Bagong Pilipinas”.
PIA Director-General Jose Torres, Jr. keynoted the event, challenging the IOs to break the norm of traditional ways to reach and inform the public and encouraging the attendees to write stories and produce stories that have a direct impact, relevance, and meaning to the information consumers, particularly those in the grassroots.
“Let us bring DevCom to the ground… to the grassroots.”
“As information Officers, let us not just be experts of Development Communication but be implementers. Let us bring DevCom to the ground… to the grassroots. Ibahagi natin na sa Bagong Pilipinas, ang pangarap nila, ay pangarap din natin,” Torres said.
Meanwhile, Mayor Bona Fe De Vera-Parayno expressed her pride in Abrogar-Guarin’s achievement, stating that said recognition brings great honor to the information office of the municipality.
“The training program would equip the PIO with valuable knowledge and skills.”
De Vera-Parayno also expressed confidence that the training program would equip the PIO with valuable knowledge and skills, thereby facilitating the provision of accurate and up-to-date information to the constituents.
The training-seminar was designed to capacitate and further equip the information officers of the government units comprised of the national government agencies (NGAs) and the local government units (LGUs) of the region, which serve as primary channels of relevant and vital news and information arm of their respective offices and localities.
Power-packed topics were lined up by ARGIO and PIA Region 1 to train the IOs on essential scopes of information management and production.
Digital Payments and Cyber Hygiene, a much timely topic, was discussed by Dennis Gundran, Sr, Research Specialist from the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas North Luzon Regional Office.
Attendees were engaged by the Mental Health talk of Ricky Ducas, RN, who also conducted short mental health exercises with the IOs.
Melinda Karla Ramo Baylon, Journalist and Editor from Cxociety Singapore, delved into social media content management. Ahikam Pasion, reporter and announcer from DWCM Aksyon Radio, talked about news writing while Ma. Joreina Therese Blanco taught feature writing.
Furthermore, Chester Carlo Trinidad, Information Center Manager of PIA La Union, shared insights into Data Visualization and Data Storytelling while Jolina Anne Lavaro was the speaker on Data Visualization using Infographics.
The last day of the confab was intended for topics on National Security and Security Awareness handled by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, while Ernest Lorenz Vidal, Government Relations and Regional Affairs Officer, North Luzon of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) discussed on the scope of services of the said power transmission private entity.
ARGIO’s new set of officers led by the reelected President Esperance Tinaza also took their oath of office before Torres during the convention.
PIA and ARGIO jointly aspire to elevate not only the capability of information officers in the region but more so to strengthen the network and partnership among units and agencies.
