By
Dominic I. Sanchez
ZAMBOANGA
CITY – Personnel of ABS-CBN Zamboanga on Tuesday (March 31) last week underwent a
seminar on climate change adaptation and mitigation conducted by the Philippine
Information Agency (PIA) in the effort to intensify the dissemination of
information on this issue to the general public.
“Climate
change is real, and its effects are manifesting through abnormal weather
phenomena,” said PIA Zamboanga Information Center Manager Dave Malcampo. “We,
as media practitioners must take the lead in disseminating information to
better equip the public on how to best be prepared.”
The
seminar participants, which include ABS-CBN executives, field reporters, news
anchors and production staff were asked to evaluate their level of awareness
and involvement in the advocacy on climate change adaptation. It was learned in
this exercise that most of them had limited knowledge on climate change.
“As a
newsman, I have covered several incidents of floods and other weather
phenomenon here as well as the destruction and harm brought by them, but I
realized that what I know about the root causes of these events is very
little,” shared veteran journalist Noning Antonio. “We have to know more about
being prepared to save ourselves and other people from typhoons and the like
when they come.”
The
participants have agreed that it is time to step up their efforts in sharing
information on climate change, considering that ABS-CBN, one of the country’s
network giants has a wide reach all across the archipelago.