ILOILO CITY (PIA) — The Barangay Information Officers (BIOs) in Western Visayas are being capacitated to effectively communicate relevant public information at the grassroots.
An initiative of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), the Barangay Information Officers Network (BIO-N) intends to expand the reach of government communications to the barangays.
Following the establishment of various BIO networks across the region, the PIA Regional Office 6 (PIA-6) is now training the barangay information officers to aid the government in communicating government programs, policies, and services to the people.
Recently, twenty-five BIOs in Victorias City, Negros Occidental were trained in digital literacy and journalism principles.
Victorias City Mayor Javier Miguel “Javi” Benitez acknowledged the crucial role BIOs hold in their city, and expressed his gratitude for their service.
“I’m very thankful for them because they are the ones who give factual information and good governance ambassadors for the City of Victorias to the barangays,” Benitez said.
Despite having more workload now, Brgy. 9 secretary and BIO Nelsa Mulavin expressed joy in her new function, saying people in their barangay need to be informed and updated about important matters.
“Aside from being a secretary, nag-BIO. Ang responsible postings, sa akon nagahalin. Matutok ka gid sa imo nga page, kapin pa subong nga nagakalatabo may bagyo, brownout.”
(Aside from being a secretary, I function as a BIO. Responsible postings come from me. There is a need to focus on your social media page, especially with the happenings now such as tropical cyclones, power outages.)
PIA-6 also organized the BIO networks of La Castellana, still in Negros Occidental; Passi City in Iloilo province; and the municipalities of Ivisan, Mambusao, Pilar, and Jamindan in Capiz province.
Barangay Information Officer Ann Christine B. Nicholas of Brgy. Jaena Sur in Jamindan town said the BIO orientation gave meaningful insights about their new function, noting information given to people must always be truthful.
“Thank you sa sini nga seminar. Mas nagdugang pa gid ang aton nga knowledge kung paano pa gid mangin effective nga information officer para sa mga tawo sa aton barangay.”
(Thank you for this seminar. We gained knowledge on how to become an effective information officer for the people in our barangay.)
In Hamtic town, Antique province, at least 40 barangay information officers were recently organized and capacitated on disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) reporting, social media management, and media relations.
As per the latest data, Region 6 now has more than 500 organized barangay information officers.
This number is expected to grow larger with the PIA-6’s continuing efforts to establish the BIOs, who are instrumental in amplifying government communications to the barangays. (AGP/ED/BPS/PIA-6)
