The Association of Negros Oriental Public Information Officers (ANOPIO) elected recently its new set of officers who will be serving for a three-year term.
ANOPIO is an aggrupation of public information officers (PIOs) from local government units, national government agencies, and selected private institutions, cooperatives, and universities in Negros Oriental.
The association held its election of new officers late last year at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Dumaguete Branch, which hosted the group’s regular monthly briefing.
Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) Dumaguete Branch PIO Risty Villahermosa was elected president after Valencia PIO Desiderio Tilos, who served as president in 2019-2022.
The new vice-president for the north is Chris Calumba of Ayungon town and vice-president for the south is Gherelene Rafols from the Negros Oriental State University (NORSU).
Canlaon City PIO Edna Lhou Masicampo was elected secretary, while Vanessa Regalado of Tanjay City was voted as assistant secretary.
The new treasurer is Bernard Barrera of Pag-IBIG Fund Dumaguete Branch, while elected as auditor is Erven Noay of St. Paul University Dumaguete.
Iris Gaso of the Department of the Interior and Local Government is the association’s new public relations officer.
BSP Dumaguete Branch Deputy Director Atty. Janice Jade Tan-Canonigo administered the oath-taking of the newly elected officers.
In his acceptance message, Villahermosa said he is pushing to strengthen ANOPIO as an institution.
“Regularity of meetings is important so we shall do that either by in-person or by Zoom or virtual because I believe we can be more efficient in doing that. To enhance also our capacities and capabilities as PIOs, we shall continue to engage with our other partners in our field,” Villahermosa said.
On the other hand, Tilos thanked the ANOPIO members for giving him the opportunity to lead the group over the past three years despite the challenges encountered due to the pandemic.
He lauded the resilience of PIOs and underscored their important role in disseminating accurate information as the province faced a great health crisis along with other areas nationwide.
Also present during the election was Sta. Catalina PIO Danilo Gregorio Denopol, who served as president of the association in the late ‘90s to the early 2000s when he was PIO of Basay town.
“My only advice to you as an association is to stick to the rules, stick to the goals. The new set of officers are new faces, and we are now in the millennial times. We look forward to more development and innovation in line with the call of the times,” Denopol said.
In another development, the Silliman University-Dr. Mariano Lao Global Studies Center held a series of lectures to launch its online short courses and certificate programs, starting with a lecture on January 12 with Atty. Myrish Cadapan-Antonio, former senior director for Fellowships and Global Initiatives at the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and former director of Fellowship and Leadership Development Programs at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Antonio’s lecture, titled “When Local Can Go Global: Market-Creating Innovations as Drivers for Prosperity,” was done in hybrid-flexible (hy-flex) modality where participants joined in-person at the Dr. Mariano Lao Innovation, Creation, and Invention (ICI) Laboratory, or online through Zoom.
The lecture focused on introducing the concept of market-creating innovations and the role of the government and private and non-profit sectors in developing them.
Antonio is the chief executive officer of The Philippine Living Heritage Initiative and 2019 Outstanding Sillimanian Awardee in the field of Global Leadership Development.
Through the Center, students from anywhere in the world may experience Silliman’s whole person education. SU aims to position itself at the forefront of international and online distance education by offering short-term, online academic programs through the Center.
The Center will also help expand the reach of SU’s existing academic programs through ICT-enabled strategies. The programs that can be completed online, including short courses and certificate programs, will include new topics that are interdisciplinary and globally oriented to develop new competencies among learners. – NWI
