By Franklin P. Gumapon
PAGADIAN CITY – In keeping with the
government’s goal of protecting the public against the adverse effects of
climate change, the Philippine Information Agency (PIA)-9 has partnered with
the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-9 in drumming up
people’s awareness on the new weather phenomenon brought about by global
warming.
Right after the formal launch of the Climate Change Advocacy
Campaign (CCAC) on July 18, 2014, PIA-9 went full swing in its campaign through
press releases, school and barangay forums, training-workshops, radio programs,
online posting of situation reports and airing of “Nagbabago na ang Panahon,
Panahon na para Magbago” radio and TV plugs.
Some 73 CCAC forums were conducted in identified flood-prone
areas in the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga
Sibugay, Basilan Province including the cities of Dapitan, Dipolog, Isabela and
Zamboanga.
PIA-9 has also organized 13 youth groups called “I am
Climate Change Resilient-Youth” comprising high school students throughout the
region to initiate/undertake programs supportive of the CCAC campaign.
More or less 80 news and feature articles on climate change
were written and published in regional papers, PIA web page, blogspot and
1Mindanao e-magazine.
To popularize climate change advocacy among indigenous
peoples (IP) in the region, five journalistic writing workshops were conducted
with IP college students as participants.
PIA-9 personnel also actively joined and provided full media
coverage to the three tree planting activities conducted by the different units
of the Philippine Army (PA) at barangays Navala and Tinotungan in Tukuran,
Zamboanga del Sur and Imelda, Zamboanga Sibugay.
Moreover, PIA-9 in partnership with the Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD)-9 conducted two media tours in three of the 13
Convergence Initiative Program for Poverty Alleviation (CIPPR) areas in
Zamboanga del Norte that were implementing the National Greening Program (NGP)
with Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino (4Ps) recipients as target beneficiaries.
To drum up public awareness on climate change issues, PIA-9
also caused the airing of “Nagbabago na ang Panahon. Panahon na Para Magbago
radio and TV plugs all over the region. As monitored, the said plugs were aired
718 times over local radio/TV stations.