Davao Oriental – “The youth are gatekeepers of the social media.”
Director General Ramon Cualoping III of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) pointed this out during his engagement with the youth of Davao Oriental where he swung his ‘EXPLAIN, EXPLAIN, EXPLAIN’ advocacy early this month.
He made his appeal to members of Caraga National High School (CNHS) Sidlakan Mandaya Cultural Ensemble to pitch in to efforts of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) and PIA, to stop the spread of fake news.
“If naay mga fake news tabangi pud mi ha. Ayaw mo pag totoo sa fake news; kamo ang ginatawag nga mga gatekeepers in social media. Dili mokalat ang fake news pag dili ninyo I –share. (Help us with fake news. Don’t believe in fake news. You are what we call as gatekeepers in social media. Fake news won’t spread if not shared),” he told them during a brief program hosted by Reverend Father Diomedes Lagroma of San Salvador del Mundo Parish in the Municipality of Caraga.
Cualoping likened fake news to “virus” which takes a heightened scale of spreading if exposed to sharing. “So pag human ug basa, dili na i-share; dili na forward. (After reading, don’t share it; don’t forward),” he told them.
The members of the dance ensemble had considerable time interacting with Director General Cualoping for whom they rendered cultural dances during his visit at San Salvador Del Mundo Church. He was joined by Department of Tourism (DOT XI) Regional Director Tanya Rabat who at the time of Cualoping’s visit, was on her way checking an eco-tourism site in the same municipality.
The dance ensemble also accompanied Cualoping during his brief tour at the “Pusan Point” where he was briefed on the significance of the area as the first spot of sunrise in 2000 millennium, and a navigation reference point of early sea travelers.
In his response, Cualoping made emphasis on the important role of the youth to inform the public about the culture and heritage of their own place, keeping in mind the need to counter “disinformation”, as well.
Before taking his trip to the municipality of Caraga at the east coast of Davao Oriental, Cualoping had engagement with youth leaders of Youth for Peace Movement, New Leaders for Development (NLD) Youth, Lumon Community Youth Volunteers, Sangguniang Kabataan.
Attended by Davao Oriental Vice Governor Nino Sotero-Uy and Provincial Board Member Ronald Lara Jr of the Sangguniang Kabataan Federation, the engagement provided Cualoping opportune time to make the youth understand “misinformation” and “disinformation”.
While people may misinterpret data or information leading to misinformation, there are sectors who “deliberately misinform” target audiences through fake news. “That’s disinformation,” Cualoping told the youth.
Given numerous instances of disinformation in the internet using various platforms, Cualoping noted that carrying out roles of leaders, information officers and communicators of government have become “very difficult”.
Cualoping further made youth leaders aware of the “democratization of communication” through which access to information, and communication becomes “instant” using cellular phones.
While audiences in the olden days used to wait for news outlets to dish out news and information, people, especially the youth, can now create their own contents, forming part of streamed information in the internet.
“… and that’s a good. As you tend to deal directly with your constituents and sphere of influence, it has also given rise to a platform where it is easy to destroy narratives. It is very easy to destroy the good narrative of a nation,” Cualoping.
It was in this context that Cualoping waged explanation about the national government COVID-19 vaccination program which had often been beaten with criticism.
He also explained to the youth the already progressing status of the Philippines under President Rodrigo Roa Duterte when COVID-19 made adverse strikes in 2020, severely affecting the Philippine economy.
But despite the confluence of economic and social challenges aggravated by the pandemic, Cualoping inspired the youth to go on overcoming “hopelessness and boredom”.
“We need to give right information; we need to keep explaining things. Ayaw mo kakapoy; padayon lang mo. (Don’t get tired, just go on),” he said.
He admitted the need for sectoral collaboration in addressing communication concerns regarding the pandemic, and other interloping issues. He banked on the youth sector to help the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) address such as it carries out its mandate .
“Kami sa Philippine Information Agency, we give our commitment to capacitate you; we can engage you; we can give you the details, the information to counter whatever narrative that they want to put against us,” Cualoping said referring to those who were out to discredit the government.
(Jeanevive Duron-Abangan, PIA XI)
