Probe on lack of PIA info officers pressed

By Gina Dizon 

BONTOC Mountain Province – Malacanang was urged to investigate state of vacancies of the Philippine Information Agency of the Cordillera Administrative Region.

Secretary of the Presidential Communications Office (PCOO) Martin Andanar and all congressmen and governors of the Cordillera were furnished letters by Salvador Liked of the Citizens Crime Watch-Cordillera who called for the probe saying there were no information officers or were lacking in Cordillera provinces.

Liked said vacancies should be filled up not only in Cordillera PIA offices but also nationwide.

The said PIA- Mountain Province has only one information officer,

 Ifugao-PIA has only two while PIA- Apayao has no assigned information officer and only relies on staff based in Baguio to do information work for Apayao.  

Benguet too has no assigned staff but a staff assigned at Baguio City-PIA is doing information work for Benguet. 

Liked said the federal form of government that Duterte is espousing is in need of more and substantial information to reach the public, federalism being a banner program of the President, thus more information officers were needed in PIA offices.

In calling the attention of PIA regional director Helen Tibaldo, liked asked why information officers in the six provinces and two cities of the Cordillera Region were lacking or inadequate.

In Mountain Province, the letter said an information staff resigned on June 2018 and the vacated post has not yet been filled up.  

Another staff driver also resigned three years ago and since this time, no vacancy has yet been declared prompting Liked to ask if salaries of the two resigned staff were used for "savings."