CEBU CITY, Cebu, Aug. 19 (PIA) -- In a move to further streamline government communication, the Visayas Media Hub to be built in Cebu by next year will be open to both public and private media.

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Sec. Martin Andanar, during the DYLA radio interview on Aug. 18, said private media can access the Visayas Media Hub which will house a news conference hall where the media partners anywhere in the Visayas can use as a work station.

Andanar said reporters from other outlets outside of the government are welcome at the facility where the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) will also be housed.

"The PIA will be there and we will set up a news conference hall for our private media partners so that when you get some news from the Philippine Information Agency or the Philippine News Agency (PNA), they have their own area there," he added.

He said this hub will house all the communication agencies under PCOO including PTV, Philippine Broadcasting Service, PIA, PNA, Bureau of Communications Services, National Printing Office, APO Production Unit, the PCOO itself, and Radio Television Malacañang (RTVM).

Andanar said the Department of Budget and Management released a report two to three weeks ago allocating P200 million for the Visayas Media Hub.

"This will be the first state-of-the-art government media facility in the Visayas," said Andanar.

Andanar said this facility is a good step towards streamlining government communication at a localized level.

"Now we have a house of our own unlike before where the biggest communication facility is only Luzon. Now, it has been decentralized. We have it in Visayas, and also in Mindanao," he added in a mix of Cebuano and English.

"When we talk about national newscast, it doesn't mean newscast should be coming from Manila. It can be a newscast emanating from Cebu or Davao, Visayas or Mindanao," the PCOO chief said. 

In 2020, the PCOO also officially opened the Mindanao Media Hub, the biggest media facility outside Metro Manila and the biggest government media center in the country, as part of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s legacy projects.

Andanar said the establishment of hubs in Visayas and Mindanao is an all-inclusive strategy to be able to reach the public; to give an opportunity for equal access to information to all of the major islands of the Republic, not only in Manila.

"It is very important that we give access to all of the major islands of the Republic so that there is no discrimination especially in information and in the availability of technology," he said.

"This is a government facility. It is for every Filipino. We are using taxpayers' money in this facility so every media personnel in the Visayas or in the entire Philippines can just drop by and consider that his/her own office," he added. (IDC/PIA7)