By Alma L. Tingcang
PAGADIAN CITY – For the Philippine Information Agency (PIA)-9 family, the recent visit to the
PIA Central Office was a cherished experience. The team building, cultural and
athletic endeavour proved to be a memorable and awesome event.
To get a feel of the
hectic and eventful schedule at the PIA Central Office, Regional Director Noemi
B. Edaga led the group on a familiarization tour around the building which also houses the
sister agencies of PIA under the Presidential Communications Operations Office
(PCOO) such as the People’s Television Network (PTV) where the group had the
chance to watch a live newscast at 6:00-7:00 p.m., Philippine Broadcasting
Service (PBS), News and Information Bureau (NIB) Radyo ng Bayan, Philippine
News Agency (PNA), and all other divisions of PIA with Ms. Girlie
Guyong-Bangunan, head of the Regional Operations Division.
Spending the weekend on
cultural visits to the country’s premier landmarks, the group went to Tagaytay,
starting off with People’s Park in the Sky, Picnic Grove, Development Academy
of the Philippines (DAP), Shrine of our Lady of Fair Love, and Fantasy World.
Not contented to view
the Taal Lake and Taal Volcano from the Tagaytay mountain ridges, the group
went down to Talisay town to get a closer view of the scenic lake and volcano.
Both were truly captivating scenery- the one most people from Mindanao used to
read and see in the books only.
Visiting historical
places and scenic spots makes one proud to be a Filipino. So, everyone in the
group was raring to see the Rizal’s Shrine in Calamba, Laguna, the Luisa Ridge
Hot Spring Resort and the Rizal Monument which is the highest in the world at
22 feet, thus making it to the Guinness World Records.
Since Los Baños town
was just less than an hour ride from Calamba City, the group decided to visit
the University of the Philippines-Los Banos, one of the top universities in the
country where the brightest from all over the country converge.
The visit to Luneta
Park also brought nostalgic memories of how Jose Rizal, the national hero, died
in the hands of the Spaniards.
One happy episode was the
group’s attendance to the flag raising ceremony last Monday where PCOO
Secretary Sonny Coloma broke the news that the Performance-Based Bonus (PBB)
was ready for release, drawing a loud applause from the audience to include
Director General Jose Mari Oquineña and Deputy Director General Virgilio
Galvez.
Later, PIA 9 paid a
courtesy call on Sec. Sonny and DG Mari discussing issues and concerns
involving the operations in the region and other related matters more
particularly the establishment of more information centers in the provinces. At
present, PIA has 71 provincial information centers nationwide.
Capping the visit was a
tour to Malacanang Palace, the executive seat of the Philippine government with
a well-informed and cheery tour guide from the National Museum, Dianne. The
group also visited the PCOO office and the Malacanang press briefing room.
So much learning and
fun in such short a time, PIA-9 personnel were able to unwind amid incessant
demands of work. From that wonderful experience and having met personally the
bigwigs of PCOO and PIA, they are now one in the vision of doing their tasks
and responsibilities to the best of their abilities in making PIA the fulcrum
of the PCOO family to be on the road to ISO-certified and PQA-compliant agency. (PIA9)
