CAMP OSITO BAHIAN, Malaybalay City (PIA)–Two helicopters of the Philippine Air Force airdropped some 5,500 info kits about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) over far-flung, austere communities of Bukidnon.
Created and produced by the Department of Health, in partnership with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID), the information materials drifted down the countryside were printed in dialects. Similarly, designed for distribution to out-of-the-way target areas, the info kits impart knowledge on how to prevent the spread of coronavirus and the ways to stay safe and healthy.
Colonel Ferdinand T. Barandon, 403rd Brigade Commander, said “the government needs to intensify its information dissemination efforts to reach out to every Filipino and prepare them for the biggest COVID-19 battle.”
“People in far-flung areas rely for information mostly on AM and FM radio stations. Yet, not all of the hilly breadths of the communities can be reached by the airwaves and the war that we are fighting now requires every citizen to know our invisible enemy in order to survive,” Barandon said.
By that, the 403rd Infantry “Peacemaker” Brigade (403Bde), in collaboration with the Police Regional Office and Tactical Operation Group of region 10, extended its reach to remote communities in the province to ensure widest dissemination of information.
Barandon said the DOH-MEID, Army, Air Force, and the entire Coronavirus task force have been working on even more clever ways to disseminate information in mountainous terrains to ensure that communities not reached by television and radio are informed about the pandemic.
He shared that the 403Bde with its five Infantry Battalions and a Task Force have engaged on massive information dissemination through social media; public address system (recorrida); barangay group discussions (Pulong-pulong); and radio program, among other IEC (information, education and communication) campaigns.
“As government agencies double their efforts in implementing strategies to combat COVID-19, the 403rd Brigade that covers Misamis Oriental, Camiguin, Bukidnon, and Cagayan de Oro has crafted ways on how it can harmonize with other available communication platforms to keep the people informed of what the government is doing for them. And so, in order to beat this pandemic, we must do our share,” Barandon said. (CMO, 403Bde, PA /PIA Bukidnon)
