Getting noticed
Gov. Hilario Davide III plans to hire an advertising firm to handle the Province’s publicity because, get this, he says the Province isn’t getting enough buzz.
Okay.
Davide told SunStar Cebu’s Justin K. Vestil that the advertising firm will cover areas that cannot be covered by the Provincial Information Office (PIO). For P3.2 million, it will promote his administration’s projects and programs as well as accomplishments.
“Kung PIO lang, well right now we don’t get enough publicity for what we’re doing diri sa Probinsya. Daghan gihapon ang nangita hain na
man ning nabuhat ni Davide. Sa iyang administrasyon unsa’y accomplishment niini, dili man
nato makita,” Davide said.
I don’t know if he realized what he just did, but it certainly looked like he was dissing his own PIO.
(By the way, I know some of the people who work there and not only are they very capable but they are also very hard-working.)
He could have talked to them first. Tell them what he wanted. He’s supposed to be a nice guy, so he could have asked them nicely. He is, after all, governor of not just any province.
For starters, he could ask Atty. Mark Tolentino, the man in charge of the PIO, to explain why the latter’s office has been remiss in its duties to spread the good word of his administration.
But wait, isn’t Tolentino also the provincial administrator and chairman of the Capitol’s bids and awards committee? Then that might explain why he couldn’t answer calls and texts when SunStar Cebu tried to get his side. With all those responsibilities, the guy’s a regular busybody.
And that could be one explanation the Province is not getting enough publicity. The person who is supposed to be on top of things at the PIO has other matters to attend to.
Davide complained that people continue to pester him about what he has accomplished since former governor now Third District Rep. Gwen Garcia vacated the seat.
Well, he has every chance to say what these are during interviews with the media, but he hasn’t.
That could be another explanation why his administration is not getting enough publicity. Davide has not been tooting his own horn. As I said, he can call a press conference any time and any day and say the most inane things on the most inane topics and he will get press coverage.
But that hasn’t been the case. And when pressed to comment on some important issue, he usually defers answering until... further study.
So maybe the PIO needs to get its act together and Davide to own his “governorness,” so the Province won’t be wasting P3.2 million on an advertising firm.