PIA XI

Drumming up  climate change awareness,    disaster    preparedness

 

 

 

THE DAVAO REGION recently made its first salvo in rolling out communication activities lined up under Climate Change Advocacy.  It conducted the Orientation/Briefing on Climate Change for Information Officers from June 19 to June 21 at Big 8 Corporate Hotel in Tagum City, Davao del Norte.

 

                Regional Director Efren F. Elbanbuena expected only about 50 information officers  from local government units (LGUs) and national line agencies to come for the event.  Beyond his expectation,  about 80 came to join the activity that he designed not just for participants to listen to lectures but to take actual learning from model Disaster Risk Reduction Management Operation Center in Davao del Norte and in  Compostela Valley.

 

                It was a session for Information Officers packed with lectures and actual practice. They visited the PDRRMO of Davao del Norte and visited the Provincial Information Office of the Province. They had an audience with Compostela Valley Vice Governor  Manuel “Way Kurat” Zamora who was a legend in Congress for his humble lifestyle. They also took note of the operation of Information  Dissemination Section of the Provincial Governor’s Office  (PGO-IDS) of Compostela Valley.

 

They, however, had time off from serious matters as they took a side-trip to  San Miguel Eco Park showcased by  the City Government of Tagum City as its Climate Change project. They also had a glimpse of the Banana Beach Resort where they visited its Infinity Pool and its Fishing Village. Had they come earlier, the resort manager would have allowed them to take a foot on its 60-hectare forest. 

 

The Orientation/Briefing on Climate Change for Information Officers, however, was not the only climate change and disaster risk reduction management-related activity that Regional Director Efren Elbanbuena organized to drumbeat public awareness on the new normal weather conditions and how these would affect human existence.

 

Looking back, in year 2011,   PIA Davao Region co-organized with MindaNews the 2nd Davao Regional Media Conference which tackled “Disaster Reporting for the Media Practitioners” hosted by the Provincial Government of Davao del Norte.

 

 

 

 

 

In the same year, PIA 11 organized the briefing/ orientation on Geo-Hazards and Disaster Reporting for LGU Information Officers.  During the activity,  Director Elbanbuena announced the latest innovation in short messaging system (SMS) which PIA 11  tapped as a means of “real-time reporting” using the SMART Infoboard Solutions. PIA 11 made a breakthrough in using  the Smart Infoboard Solutions for SMS infoblast way  before PIA central office  used it as a nationwide system to  send out information to mass recipients at one click.

 

Early in 2012, through its DavComval Information Center, PIA 11 started discussing with  the Provincial Information Office and the Provincial Disaster Reduction Management Office in Davao del Norte the  “Protocol on Disaster Reporting for Information Officers.”  In August of the same year,  the Protocol  was adopted by the PGO-IDS of Compostela Vallley which facilitated the presentation of which to  the 10^th Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

 

Earlier, on June 21, 2012, PIA 11 braved its way to   the gold-rush Brgy Mt. Diwata, Monkayo in Compostela Valley. Director Elbanbuena brought along regional heads of  Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 11, the commander of the 25^th Infantry Battalion of the 1001^st Inf. Bde and the secretariat of the Program Monitoring and Coordination Center of the National Task Force Diwalwal to conduct  the  “Geo-Hazard Forum” .

 

Aimed  at raising awareness on the high geo-hazard risks that residents of Mt. Diwata were facing, the forum  revealed the particular high-risk areas within the Diwalwal Mineral Reservation Area (DMRA). PIA 11 invited resource speakers from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and from the Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau (MGB) 11.

 

 

In 2012, PIA 11 attempted to reach out and share the Protocol on Disaster Reporting with information officers in Davao Oriental.  Due to time-constraint in arranging  it, PIA 11 was overtaken by the mighty gust of Typhoon Pablo which brought  immense devastation never before seen by the present generation of Comvalenyos and Dabawenyos.

 

Thanks to the long-time established network with information officers particularly in  Compostela Valley and in Davao del Norte and its wide alliance with national line agencies, PIA 11 rode out from  the wave of difficulty in gathering situation reports from grassroots level.   During the continuing relief and rehabilitation phase in areas devastated by Typhoon Pablo, PIA 11 supported the series of “Makigsayod Information Forum” organized by the PGO-IDS of Compostela Valley conducted in Typhoon Pablo-hit towns.

 

On the other hand,  with the openness and support of Davao Oriental Governor Corazon Malanyaon, PIA 11  organized a series of communication activities in the province, labelled as  “Pagpatigam”, derived from a Mandaya term meaning “to inform”.

 

PIA 11 conducted  in  July 2013, a  communication skills enhancement training for information officers and media practitioners in Mati City in tie up with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Agencies (UNOCHA) which  was still then assisting Davao Oriental.  It  made a follow-through activity in September 2013 and conducted Communication Planning session with the same participants invited during the first Pagpatigam session in July, 2013.

 

Meanwhile, long before Typhoon Yolanda made a landfall in November, 2013 in Leyte, Director Elbanbuena made headway preparing for the “Makigsayod Information Forum for Indigenous Peoples” in Brgy. Upper Ulip in Monkayo, Compostela Valley.  It was set early on November 7, a day before Typhoon Yolanda was expected to first hit Leyte. If not for the insistence of the PDDRMO of Compostela Valley to postpone it, PIA 11 would have bravely taken against-all-odds  a trip to Upper Ulip to conduct the activity. Though postponed, its DavComval Infocen staff went to the area  and met with the IP leaders to explain the need to hold off the activity.

 

 The “Makigsayod Information Forum for Indigenous Peoples” was aimed at informing IPs in the Mt. Diwalwal Mineral Reservation site of the geo-hazard risks in their area and to educate them about the extreme changes in  weather conditions caused by climate change.

 

Two, super typhoon came and went lately.  PIA 11 moved onward rolling out its communication activities designed to raise awareness and deepen public understanding on the need to  prepare  for disasters triggered by onslaught of natural phenomenon made more harsh due to extreme climate changes.

 

PIA 11 gives due credit to funding agencies which generously share resources, enabling it to exercise its role in building disaster-resilient communities.  It is extending its thanks to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources which highly involves PIA in its PMCC NTFD operation and in its Climate Change Advocacy.  The Department of Energy (DOE) also provides assistance for activities on energy conservation which is also a major concern in climate change adaptation.  It also extends its gratitude to cooperating the national line agencies which have helped PIA 11 create significant impact in communities where it holds its activities. The same gratitude it bestows to the local governments which have embraced PIA communication activities as vital aid necessary to help them achieve community empowerment and community development.   (PIA 11/Jeanevive Duron-Abangan)