PIA Dispatch - Saturday, April 2, 2011

Government agencies need to help in dissemination of information -- Coloma

All government agencies must work together to inform the public about the accomplishments of the Aquino administration to further improve public perception, according to a Palace official.

“Yes there’s a need for everyone to work together with the entire executive branch in disseminating information because the Communications Group can’t do it alone,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Sonny Coloma said in an interview over government-run dzRB (Radyo ng Bayan) Saturday.

Coloma was discussing the survey rating of the President and his Cabinet noting that the work of disseminating information to the public is not solely the President’s job.

“We know that the President can’t do it alone. He is the Chief Executive because he’s the head of the entire executive department. The work of the President is being done by the entire Executive department,” he said.

However, Coloma acknowledged the importance of surveys noting that these kind of assessments also help the government know where to improve, particularly in delivering services to the people.

At the same time, he said they are not only seeing the survey results in its entirety but also its components. For instance, in the recent Pulse Asia survey he said that the people were asked about 12 important issues that affect them.

He said that out of the 12 issues, only three issues got majority rating, which means that there’s a need for the government to work on other issues that impact on the people.

“So this means that there are specific areas that needs more focus, for us to work more, a need to strive to inform the people about the public services of the government,” he said.

The President also wants other government agencies to help him disseminate information to the public, Coloma said. He noted that government would know the feedback from the people through these initiatives.

While there are many good news that happen in the country, these are not usually being picked up by the local press because of other happenings abroad, Coloma said.

If the people will read the inside pages of broadsheets, not just front page banners, they will be informed of positive developments in the country being reported by the media, Coloma added. (PCOO)