CEBU CITY, Cebu, Feb. 24 (PIA) -- The construction of the P300-million Visayas Media Hub in Mandaue City is now in full swing after the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), together with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) led the hard hat and time capsule laying ceremony on Feb. 24. 

As another legacy of the Duterte administration for effective government communication operations, the project has been allotted P300 million for the construction of the facility within the 5,000-square meter property of DICT in Brgy. Subangdaku, which is sourced from the General Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2022.

Another P300 million was secured in the PCOO's 2022 budget to procure state-of-the-art broadcast equipment and facilities.

According to PCOO Sec. Martin Andanar, the Visayas Media Hub will serve as the main government broadcast center for Western, Central, and Eastern Visayas or Regions 6, 7, and 8, respectively.

"I advocate sustainable communication. With the infrastructure that we have naapil sa (included in the) Duterte Legacy, we have a chance to advocate sustainable communication. We have a chance to create a very robust, last mile information platform for the government. It is very timely that the Visayas Media Hub will be built here in Mandaue because this is a DICT property. We have a private telco in front of us and we have a mayor (Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes) who is very supportive in the artificial intelligence in telecommunication," said Andanar. 

"My dream, mayor, one day, this will not only be a Visayas Media Hub (that is only an) infrastructure (that we can go broadcast), but a Visayas Media Hub that will champion the digital last mile information platform of the entire government of the Republic of the Philippines," he added.

The PCOO chief thanked Pres. Rodrigo Duterte for ensuring the hub will materialize as well as Sen. Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go for his unwavering support in pushing for its budget in Congress.

Meanwhile, Pres. Duterte, in a recorded video message, lauded the PCOO following the groundbreaking of the Visayas Media Hub.

“I welcome the creation of this new facility and state-of-the-art equipment that will push the government’s communications service across the country," Duterte said.

"I am certain that this hub will be a beacon of excellence as we modernize government media for the improved welfare of our people in the Visayas and the rest of the nation,” he added.

Go, for his part also in a video message, said this hub is another milestone in the fulfillment of the government's communications operations and services nationwide.

"We are now finally laying the foundations of the Visayas Media Hub less than a year after the successful inauguration of its Mindanao counterpart," Go said.

"This is a vital step to promote increased civic awareness and public participation among the Filipinos especially in the Visayas region," he added. 

The senator said "this is a proof of the Duterte administration's desire to provide reliable and trustworthy news and information to the public. These media hubs will be inherited to the next generations that will continue delivering public service through honest and free journalism."

"As public servants and media practitioners, may we continue to empower our kababayans by keeping them well-informed of the social, political, and economic developments of our country," Go said.

The Visayas Media Hub will house the different PCOO attached agencies such as the People’s Television Network (PTV), Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS), Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Philippine News Agency (PNA), and Presidential Broadcast Staff - Radio Television Malacañang (PBS-RTVM).

This is the second media hub of the PCOO outside of Metro Manila, with the first being the Mindanao Media Hub in Davao City which launched its pilot live broadcast in December 2020.

Present during the event were Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes, OPAV Usec. Gerard Anthony "Jonji" Gonzales, DICT Asec. Nestor Bongato, PCOO Usec. Kris Ablan, PIA Director-General Usec. Ramon Cualoping III, PTV General Manager Kat de Castro, and DPWH Assistant Regional Director Mario Montejo. (IDC/PIA7)