BACOLOD City – The Public Affairs and Information Office of Bago City in Negros Occidental has reaped anew several awards during the Western Visayas Information Officers’ Yearend Conference and Awards 2023 of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA).
Adding to the city’s long list of accolades, its Public Affairs and Information Office bagged the Second Place Best Facebook Page and Second Place Best Special Publication awards.
The Citybridge is the official Facebook page of the Bago City Government.
It is the sole local government unit (LGU) in Negros Occidental to make it to the top three.
The first place went to Iloilo City Government, while Iloilo Science and Technology University and Capiz Provincial Government Communications Group bagged the third place.
Its winning special publication, on the other hand, is the “Bawal Bastos sa Bago” brochure, a localized information and education campaign material on the Safe Spaces Act or the Bawal Bastos Law.
These recognitions serve as validation of the dedication and commitment of the city’s information office in pursuit of upholding development communication through excellent information dissemination across various platforms.
Multi-awarded Information Officer Ace Balboa from PIA Director General Jose Torres Jr., PIA Deputy Director General for Strategic Communication and External Affairs Katherine De Castro, and PIA-Western Visayas Regional Director Cheryl Amor received the awards at Citadines Amigo Iloilo in Iloilo City on Dec. 21.
Last year, Balboa and his office both received Hall of Fame awards from the regional line agency, mainly for their contributions to the field of development communication.
They were hailed as Hall of Famers for winning in their respective categories for three consecutive years and for their remarkable performance in the dissemination of timely, relevant, and accurate information.
This year, they are exempted from joining these categories.
Balboa, who is a Master of Development Communication degree holder from the University of the Philippines Open University and has completed the academic requirements for his doctorate in Development Studies from the University of St. La Salle-Bacolod, first won as the Best Performing Information Officer in the region in 2020.
He again topped the search among all information officers, both for LGU and national government agencies, in 2021 and 2022.
Humbled and grateful, Balboa thanked the PIA for once again recognizing Bago City in its annual regional awards.
“This is a clear manifesto of what our LGU is remarkably doing to our public in the fields of information dissemination, education, and communication,” the award-winning information officer said.
He added, “Rest assured that the Public Affairs and Information Office, as the information arm of the city, will continue to innovate and come up with various programs, strategies, and services on development communication to provide timely, relevant, and accurate information to the Bagonhon community.”/PN
