PIA chief wows
future journalists of the country
By Philippine Information
Agency (PIA 8)
April 10, 2013
TACLOBAN CITY –
Undersecretary Jose Marie Oquiñena of the Presidential Communications
Operations Office set the tone of the National Schools Press
Conference now ongoing in Ormoc City, Leyte by exhorting the future
journalists to aspire not only to become good writers, good
broadcasters but to become great ones who love their country and its
people.
USec Oquiñena, with his wit
and contagious humor, kept the audience alive, continuously clapping
their hands and bursting in laughter from the time he started to the
moment he ended his keynote message on the theme “Campus Journalists:
Championing Ethics in Social Media.”
The Undersecretary who is
also the Director General of the Philippine Information Agency,
encouraged the campus journalists to use their talents on a higher
scale.
“Our country needs to hear
good news all the time. Our country needs to be inspired. We need you
to write all the good things about the Filipino and the Philippines.
We will have to do this because there is a lot of good news about this
country,” the youthful Undersecretary said.
Underscoring his salient
points through stories or anecdotes, Secretary Mari as he wanted to be
called, captivated the young audience numbering about 5,000 in the
jump packed Ormoc Super Dome in the early evening of April 8.
The good Undersecretary
cautioned the Journalism Advisers and teachers in the use of the
social media as a communication tool. The students must have the right
preparation, the right values before they are trained on the social
media, he said, because the social media has so much power within
one’s reach that it can build or destroy people.
“If the Inang Bayan will ask
how you will show your love for it, how will you answer,” the USec
asked.
“One who is in love is
always all praises of his love one, so you write, write with passion
and excitement. Never stop writing good things about the Filipino. Do
not get tired of writing good about your country,” USec Oquiñena said
as he encouraged the future journalists of the country.
The Undersecretary exhorted
the participants to have the freedom to express themselves, not to be
afraid to write what is in their minds because fear will “only limit
us, will not allow us to reach our destiny.”
By the reaction of the young
participants in the Facebook saying he was the best speaker ever, by
the way they took time to have their pictures taken with the Guest of
Honor, and requested for his autograph, the Honorable Undersecretary
was able to light up the fire of enthusiasm. The 71st National Schools
Press Conference is up to a good start.