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.