Lawmaker vows support for press club

CAGAYAN Valley Representative Jack Enrile has promised to extend help to develop the Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC) under the leadership of Monsignor Elmer Abacahin as president.

Over the weekend, Enrile’s representative, former Misamis Oriental governor Antonio Calingin, relayed the former’s plan to Abacahin and the rest of the COPC members.

Calingin said Enrile was supposed to personally send his word but wasn’t able to catch his flight due to bad weather.

He said Enrile would support whatever projects Abacahin would propose for the development of COPC and its members.

For his part, Abacahin said he planned to renovate the COPC building under the Build Operation Transfer (BOT) program.

He said the COPC building, located along Velez St., really needs to be renovated.

As initial support, Enrile turned over P100,000 to Abacahin on Saturday.

Abacahin said the money will be used to provide trainings and seminars to journalists in the city.

“Part of the money will pay for the speakers and other expenses,” he said.

Abacahin added that with proper seminars and trainings, journalists will be equipped with proper media ethics and better understanding of good journalism for them to come up with better reporting.

Calingin said the support from Enrile is something that Abacahin requested, citing that Enrile and Abacahin are close friends.

He said Enrile would not ask something in return, though he said the former might opt to run as senator in the coming election.

“All he wants is to improve the standards of the Cagayan de Oro media, nothing more, nothing less,” Calingin said.

Abacahin said he already lined up different projects that would benefit the COPC members. One of these is a media village for COPC members, especially those affected by Typhoon Sendong. (NJM)