Council tells PIO not to be one-sided

CEBU, Philippines - The members of the Cebu City Council yesterday told Public Information Officer (PIO) Florito “Carlo” Dugaduga to maintain his fairness in the performance of his job as they observed that the PIO is just promoting Mayor Michael Rama.

During the executive session yesterday, Councilor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña and Alvin Dizon asked Dugaduga why most of the articles published in the city’s monthly newsletter Barugg involve only the departments under the Office of the Mayor.

The councilors also observed that Rama is always present in almost all photographs published in the newsletter. Dugaduga, who used to be president of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), assured the councilors to improve his output.

Osmeña cited several articles that are published in Barugg newsletter that criticized the City Council for various issues, including the reduction of the total amount of the 2012 annual budget from P11.8 Billion to P5.2 Billion.

Councilor Augustus Pe Jr. also criticized Dugaduga for his failure to maintain fairness because as the editor-in-chief of the newsletter all articles should pass through him for corrections and yet, he did nothing to correct the “one sided” articles.

Osmeña explained that the writers of the stories should get the side of the City Council and not to publish them “one sided” unless if their intention is to destroy the credibility of the city legislators.

Explaining why there is no article from the City Council that are published in the Barugg newsletter, Dugaduga said a certain Maria Lourdes Garillus, an employee of the Cebu City Council, is the one in-charge for the submission of stories that involves the legislative department.

But City Secretary Cynthia Kahulugan quickly said Garillus is not authorized to write stories for Barugg newsletter. Dugaduga has agreed that the legislative department will appoint somebody to write stories about the accomplishments of the City Council.

The City Council also asked Dugaduga about the “pulong-pulongs” conducted by the executive department in the various barangays to inform the public about proper garbage collection, right values and about anti-drugs campaign. The City Council also asked the latter to include them in the information dissemination.

Reacting to the issue, Mayor Michael Rama said, “Unsa man lagi ang ilang programa? Ang buhat sa legislative balaod ra. Unsa man ang ilaha? Approval of Program of Works and Estimates nga ang nagtrabaho ana ang engineering man.” (So what programs are they talking about? They are supposed to deal only with legislation. If they cite the approval of the program of works and estimates, it’s not the Council that does that, it’s the engineering department.) — (FREEMAN)