DAVAO CITY, May 16 (PIA) – For an expert on public health education, the regular annual program of the Department of Health (DOH) starts with planning, holding surveys to get people’s opinion before conducting communication activities in the community.
But the coronavirus pandemic is a totally different drill as described by Yasmin Avila, the head of the Health Education and Promotion Office of the DOH XI.
“ We hardly prepared for this. When we crafted for the communication plan, we didn’t have a survey because there was not enough time to do that. We just revisited the previous plans of the emerging and re-emerging diseases and took points which are applicable to the current situation.”
Communication experts first scanned and tested available platforms on how to best put forward their objectives and how to best communicate to the people.
For Tagum City Information Officer Louie Lapat, he shared how the local government resorted to a strategy to scare the people so as to efficiently see its expected changes in the people’s behavior.
“ We are one of the earliest LGUs which came up with the case counts, statistics. We want the people to understand how serious the problem is.”
The LGU expected that by being transparent, people will be guided and informed on the real situation of the pandemic that should be taken seriously by everyone.
The DOH HEPO head shared how the office weighed the level of outrage of the people and suited the most appropriate message tone to use in conveying the message.
Avila admitted that the DOH first felt that when COVID19 was just at its early stage, people’s outrage level was so high that was why DOH communicators used the re-assuring message tone to tell the people that the government is on top and in control of things amid this pandemic.
“ But now we’ve seen the rise in cases that pushed us to use statistics or figures to convince the people that the pandemic is real. The figures would tell them that they should stay at home, and they need to wear mask,” Avila said.
Making Use of the Built Information Highway
Philippine Information Agency XI Regional Director Frances Mae Macapagat attributed fast and synchronized communication activities from the national to the local due to a well-established information network.
“ This network of information officers from the national government agencies up to the local government units in cities, provinces, and municipalities have made the flow of synchronized messaging possible.”
She shared that the national led by the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) and its attached agencies including the PIA, People’s Television (PTV), Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS) and others, as well as the other members of the National Task Force against COVID19 have come up with a National Communication Plan which serves as the guide or the One Message House.
“ All the information officers have been made aware of this national communication plan so they can fit their respective plans into this and follow the One Message House.”
The national plan covers the Kalusugan (Health), Kabuhayan (Livelihood), Kaayusan (Order), and Kinabukasan (Future) all leading to achieve its goal to Heal, Recover, and Rise Up as One.
The said plan enables communication experts to meet virtually for town hall meetings, discuss pressing issues, listen to the updates from agency spokespersons in order for the communicators to have the accurate and needed content to provide the public.
Varying Communication Strategies Used
For the communication expert of the Davao de Oro Provincial Government Alfonso Tabas, he shared that the province came up with a program that hits almost all platforms: radio, television, and online.
“ We packaged it as Serbisyo Oro Mismo, we invite guests from the different government offices and we invite the media to participate . Thru the statements given by the officials, people would worry less. We bring the right and accurate information right to their doorsteps since we are all in a lockdown.”
The Tagum City Information Office, on its part, invested on communication technology such that the government can easily and in any time broadcast, inform, and reach the farthest individual.
“ We are lucky that the city LGU invested on manpower and on technology so we can be efficient and effective in communicating our messages to the public,” Lapat said.
The information office, he bared, was also challenged to creatively package the information and use various new and appropriate platforms to communicate such as virtual pressers which turned out effective especially in this time of pandemic when people are restricted from going out.
Lapat assumed that since people are confined to stay at home, most of them are hooked into using their mobile phone, laptop, and other gadgets in knowing the updates in the outside world.
“ This is when we position the city government as their ultimate source of official information. We inform them on what’s the latest policies and guidelines. Slowly it is building their trust on us as their legitimate source of information.”
The city government felt people’s trust when they looked into the Insights of their official page. There was a sudden spike in their followers, on the engagement, and on the number of shares.
This pushed the information office to think of more creative ideas to keep and build on that trust. Lapat shared some out-of-the-box activities just to also entertain bored people at home just like a TikTok Contest or an Online Singing Contest.
“ Aside from scaring the people, we also released stories of hope. These are inspiring stories from the public who despite the hardship brought by the pandemic, still remained hopeful and inspirational to others”.
Fake News, Disinformation – the greatest roadblock
While communication in this time of pandemic is an extra challenging for the communication experts, the easy spread of fake news and disinformation adds up to the burden and often becomes the greatest roadblock.
Mindanao Daily Mirror writer Ruth Palo shared that in this kind of health pandemic, even the mainstream media wanted to be ahead from the rest. The need to be first to broadcast or do the breaking news is but a common behavior between and amongst media networks.
Tabas, on his part, stressed that informing the public should not be a competition. “ Dili ni paunhanay, o padaghanay, kundili kini patinuuray. We encourage everyone that they need to validate information. We observed that since DOH could sometimes be delayed in releasing updates, people even those not part of the mainstream media easily make up wrong information and spread it online. Hearsays then become news when posted online.”
The media, who are also affected by the community quarantine, are left relying on the open lines of communication with information officers.
“ It is really important that information officers are accessible and can easily be contacted. The public expect accurate and complete information from the media. The media, as well, need these information from our information officers,” Palo said.
For Lapat, the “new normal” in the public information sector is a wake-up call for government offices to realize the role of the information office.
“ As recognized by the World Health Organization, this is not just a pandemic that we are experiencing but also an Infodemic. It is high time that LGUs should value and invest on their information office. In Tagum City, we are lucky because people here have become critical. The information office leads in making the people literate on the proper use of technology in order to get the right information from the government.”
The Philippine Information Agency XI gathered these communication experts in the One Davao on COVID 19 Virtual Presser, a daily virtual press conference accommodating different guests from the various government offices to tackle COVID 19 updates in Davao Region. It is streamed live on the Facebook page of PIA Davao Region, aired live on PTV Davao, Radyo Pilipinas, FM1, and Davao City Disaster Radio. (PIA XI/Frances Mae Macapagat)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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