PIA told: Vacate office to give way to Palace Sec’s cottage

BAGUIO CITY –   The director and staff of the Philippine Information Agency ordered to vacate the PIA Cordillera regional here located across The Mansion so it would be made a cottage of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialvea.

PIA staff said they have to look for another place to set up their office after they received a letter from the finance and administration office of Malacañang telling them to vacate as the building the agency is occupying is “weak” and needs refurbishing.

In the letter signed by Malacanang’s Deputy Secretary Rizalina N. Justol pertaining to the Lualhati  guest house located at the Mansion House Complex, based from  preliminary assessment of the Office of the President  Proper Inventory Team, the building is also dilapidated therefore it needs major renovation or improvement. 

“We are planning to renovate the guest house and convert it to be used as the new cottage of the Executive Secretary for easy access to the Baguio Mansion House,” the letter read.

Justol also stated that the new building will also be used as venue for meetings, fora   and other official functions.

The PIA Cordillera headed by regional director Helen Tibaldo was advised by the official through PIA director General Harold E. Clavite to immediately turn over the property to the OP (Proper)-assets management office of Malacañang’s finance and administration office.

In his facebook page, one of the officers of the PIA Cordillera expressed his sadness over the pending demolition of their office.

He said that their agency was there since 2005 and since then, they have served under the administrations of then Presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Benigno Simeoun Aquino III and now Rodrigo Duterte.

In a conversation with the members of the Baguio media, he said the regional office has become a place of convergence of media based not only in Baguio and other parts of the Cordillera region but also the media coming from different parts of the country.

He said it has also served as a venue for countless “kapihan” press conferences) organized by the Cordillera Association of Regional Executives (CARE), the Baguio Correspondent and Broadcasters Club and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas with different government agencies and non-government organizations .

According to Zambrano, they are planning to make a motion for reconsideration. But as of now he said, they have to look for a place to transfer their office.

Meanwhile, the BCBC passed a resolution expressing concerns on the possible impacts of the planned renovation to some of the structures and installations in the compound of the PIA Cordillera.

The regional news agency houses two Cordillera indigenous huts and a Dap-ay (Igorot traditional community center).

The BCBC said the dap-ay serves as solidarity site and ritual area for the media, their partners and other sectors of the society.

“Developing the area will diminish the historical value of the structure,” the biggest media organization in the Cordillera stated.