EDITORIAL - Trim the rough edges but keep Sugbo TV

The budgets of the Capitol and City Hall for public information and publicity are both currently under scrutiny, for reasons that, while not exactly unwarranted, are not exactly free of politics either.

One thing is certain. Whenever government or any of its instrumentalities embarks on any campaign, you can be sure that some of the luster must rub off on the promoter. Administration after administration, official after official, that is always a given.

What could stand a little scrutiny, therefore, is where the balance is struck between the original intent of informing and the unavoidable ancillary benefit that comes with the promoting. Find the balance, and it is easy to pick up from there.

But politics must never stand in the way of the educational purpose that gave birth to these campaigns. In the case of the Capitol's Sugbo TV for instance, its programs and features have done more to promote and educate about Cebu than anything seen in this province ever.

Forget about foreigners for a while and consider the Cebuanos themselves. The majority of them probably have not been to every nook and cranny of their own island. They cannot rightfully claim to know their own home province like the palms of their hands.

But thanks to the informative programs and features on Sugbo TV, many Cebuanos have been given a comprehensive inside look into its towns, cities and attractions. Cultures long forgotten or just discovered form part of the wealth of  information shared directly into living rooms.

Historical nuggets allow the Cebuanos to reconnect with who they are and allow them to make better informed choices about how to lead their lives now that they are no longer strangers in their own land.

The worse that should be done about these media programs, particularly Sugbo TV, is to review its processes and maybe reorient its priorities. But for no other reason should it be limited or, heaven forbid, scrapped.

Again, it has to be said that Sugbo TV has done more than anyone or anything -- media, government, church, or private sector -- to promote Cebu not only as a tourist and investment destination but as a place with real people whose history and culture are second to none.