BAGUIO CITY March 12 – President Rodrigo R. Duterte granted all government communication facilities the freedom to provide everyone access for all sectors to be heard in relation to their programs, projects, and advocacies that will benefit the greater majority of the populace.
The President, who led the ceremonial switching of the Peoples Television (PTV) 4 Cordillera hub in the city Saturday, said that he wants the people to view the programs of PTV as beneficial to them and not simply a mouthpiece of government for it to be competitive in the network war.
The PTV 4 Cordillera hub is fully equipped with state of the art Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) vans capable of transmitting the latest events happening in the different parts of the archipelago.
“We want everyone to have the chance to be heard. Even the communists, Moro rebels, among other sectors, are welcome to use the government communication facilities to advance their advocacies, programs, and projects because the people deserve to know what is happening around them,” Duterte stressed.
However, he quickly clarified that the government communication facilities will not be open to extremists and terrorists and to crucify people or groups.
The Chief Executive pointed out the importance of the right to reply from the aggrieved individuals and groups to allow the public to be able to formulate the right public opinion on issues and advocacies being aired because they deserve the right information to compensate the taxes they are paying which is used to sustain the improvement of government communication facilities.
According to him, the government plans to make government communication facilities at par with well-known international cable new stations wherein their officials will have the degree of independence that will allow the said facilities to be in the same boat with private media outfits in the country.
For those who are aggrieved by the programs of private media, the President said the government communication facilities will be open to them to shed light on whatever misinformation being spread against them because he wants the people to be aware of the issues to avoid misjudging certain quarters.
Aside from the Cordillera hub, the President will also be leading the inauguration of the Mindanao hub and Visayas hub of PTV 4 in the coming weeks.
“I will assure the Filipino people that I will not use the government communication facilities like PTV 4, Radyo ng Bayan and Philippine News Agency for my personal agenda during my term,” Duterte underscored.
The President believes that by providing the Filipino people with the right information on matters of public interest, they will be empowered to be part of the government in the realization of the government’s aspiration of uplifting the lives of Filipinos through the utilization of the country’s limited resources.**By Dexter A. See
