Laoag City—To reinforce the contribution of information system in community development, the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte (PGIN) through the Communications and Media Office (CMO), will hold series of seminars dubbed “Barangay Information Network—Ilocos” (BIN-I) in every municipality and city of the province starting December 7, 2019.
Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials acting as information officers were invited to participate in its initial launching in the Municipality of Dingras.
“BIN-I” aims to strengthen information network in province by establishing trained and responsible information officer in barangay level. It will also provide immediate access to information regarding PGIN programs such as medical assistance, scholarship opportunities, livelihood support and job fairs, and other public service announcements.
“For the past nine years, the information is always coming from the Provincial Government disseminated to the local government units (LGUs). We need to reverse such practice. Let’s make our communication network system more collaborative, from LGUs going up to the provincial government,” provincial information officer June Arvin C. Gudoy remarked.
“The secondary reason of BIN-I is the lack of television network based in our province. These networks are based outside Ilocos Norte. That’s why we need to consider a new system in order to ensure a spontaneous flow of information sharing in our province,” he added.
Mr. Gudoy also emphasized the importance of localized information network system for wider information dissemination in times of disaster, calamity, and emergency: “Barangay Information Officers including SK and other barangay officials are the key persons who must be provided with relevant information in times of disaster.”
At present, social media shares the biggest means of communication in Ilocos Norte thus, topics to be discussed in BIN-I include ethical use of social media, basic mobile photography, Facebook page management and workshop. (Blessing Angel V. Agliam)