DAVO CITY, February 23 – President Rodrigo Duterte lauded the efforts of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) in the development of a grassroots strategy that corresponds to promoting a responsible digital citizenry.
In his speech read by PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar during the first-ever National Information Convention (NIC) here, the President stated that the same is the current platform of the government broadcasting feature, that is being presented for the private and public information officers and that it is where communication officers of the government are expected to stand.
“You are likewise expected to sustain this platform as it continues to unfold for the future that we have already started. As your President, I have spoken the words of change, a radical transformation in the way the destructive elements of the past must be eradicated. I therefore, early on, declare the wars against illegal drugs, against crime, against corruption, against terrorism,” the President stressed.
The Chief Executive underscored that the battle zones surround the Filipino citizens and as communication and information officers of the government, ‘you are bound to fight these wars as a matter of duty and for the honor of being the public servants of our people.”
Duterte asserted “words are the most effective instruments we can use to confront the fractured world we inherited and that there are truths and certainties we must speak of, in order to elicit respect for the law, honor for authority, a sense of discipline, decency and pride in being a Filipino who is capable of defending our community when it is under siege the way Mamasapano, Marawi, even Malacañang or any other territory, when attacked, and how we are willing to risk our lives, to protect love ones, our families, and when needed, the ultimate defense of our country.”
According to him, government work today towers with the certainty of the people’s continued support and trust, parallel to the way he was able to emerge as the country’s President who relates intimately with the broadest base of the people.
He reminded the private and public information officers that his occupancy of the highest seat of power is held strongly by the support of a people who sincerely believe, respect and trust the government.
As information officers, the President pointed out that their word should approximately the truths which is the primordial intent of the convention, the re-creation of communication.
President Duterte underscored that it is high time for the people to leave the ugly stories of those who scatter hatred, anger, divisiveness, with the cruelty of their lies and the wounds they cause with their poisoned pens and they must gather the goodness that is inherent to the hearts of Filipinos and turn the same to the advancement of understanding, harmony, unity and peace.
Duterte claimed that he has shown the people how he offered both his hands to the Filipino rebels with the open of bringing them back under the country’s flag but they would rather hold guns instead of a hand for peace, thus, these are the stories that must be told.
He claimed that the bonds that unit6e the people together, are the stories that must be told to the people and in the re-telling of the stories, in the recreation of stories, in the recreation of communication, the world is recreated.** By Dexter A. See