20th RADIO-7 Convention in Bohol: Day 1

This is the 20th year that the various information officers from the provinces, cities and towns of Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor including some from the academe and the private sector met for a 3-day convention at Bohol Tropics in Tagbilaran City on November 5-7, 2012.

This is Bohol Tropics in Tagbilaran City, the venue of the 20th RADIO-7 Conference

Fifty-two  participants arrived at the venue to register for the conference.  Each was given,  conference kit, a T-Shirt with the logo “I love RADIO” scrawled on the front and goodie bags.

Day-1: Participants onboard a bus that took them to a heritage and benchmarking tour in Catigbian's extreme adventures, Balilihan Museum, a visit to the famous chocolate hills, Tarsier sanctuary and all the other Bohol tourist attractions that could be accommodated in a day's trip. 

While the participants enjoyed the tour, our special guest, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Usec Atty. Leslie JeanneCordero arrived and I took her to the Mansion for a courtesy call at governor Edgar Chatto and a brief tour around the capitol and the tourism office for a briefing on the economic development of the province.

The Bohol provincial capitol called "the Mansion" is a revelation.  It was the house that President Carlos Garcia used as his office whenever  he was in Bohol.  It is considered a heritage house that was renovated and restored to its original look.  I had a grand time taking photos of the building.   

After the courtesy call with governor Edgar Chatto, Usec Leslie met the Bohol Press. Questions about the latest and updates at the Presidency, national issues, and the role of media in development. 

We capped the first day of the conference with governor Chatto and Usec Leslie Cordero opening it with their respective messages that underscored the vital role of media to promote peace, programs of government and disaster risk reduction management communication.

My opening remarks:

"Information officers today shape opinions, development information, give choices for people on information they want. Information choice we are capable of giving the public is the challenge we face as government information officers. UN says that of the 27 billion people in the world, 26 billion are cellphone users. Instagram has 100m users. 90% of OFWs around the world use FB and Twitter to communicate around the world.  For the development projects of your LGU, you have to communicate it in less than 160 words. That’s the challenge. I want you to be challenged and interested so all of us can have Twitter, Instagram & other social media so information can be given like rain, not trickles."  

Bohol Governor Edgar Chatto's Message:

"If you don’t use technology today you can’t compete in information world. If communication is not there, governance will fail. All these information must be known because people need to take part in shaping their destinies. 

The critical role of executive and legislative branches is in engaging the participation of people in shaping policies. It is important for info officers to highlight all the time the performance in economic growth and development to balance the news

Public access to information is a basic requirement now of every public sector person. Decisions are made with quick, on-time information especially those coming from media. Region 7 is the region country is looking up to, because we are the fastest growing region in country, highest level of economic performance, tourism, manufacturing exports outside of Manila.  Bohol has it all, it’s all in Bohol."     

PCOO USEC LESLIE JEANNE CORDERO's Message:

"You can make positive changes with power of information that you share. C4D is a new term coined by UNESCO, which highlights two-way communication in dialogue. You get burning issues from communities, but the challenge is before you get their feedback, you have to inform them of what the government is doing and find out if they’re satisfied. Challenge for us is how to process feedback and turnaround time to address these issues. 
When there is issue thrown at government, the key is to have information officers dedicated to answer all those questions. The role of information officers is to answer media’s questions. Info officers must lay down tactical grid in addressing issues. One of our challenges is how we will weave together traditional forms of media and integrate it in new media. 
But are the comments of people in social media valid? Yes. Because when the issue comes out, people will have lots of comments and it will be revealed. Social media is democratizing participation in the Philippines. The government should be able to integrate all communication channels. PTV will soon be integrated with Radyo ng Bayan so every news on TV will also be aired on radio." 

Day 1 ended with interesting open forum with the information officers and Usec Leslie.  Some of the issues discussed included the institutionalization of the information officers, the Freedom of Information bill, decriminalizing libel and the reproductive health bill.  We called it a night..