The 'sound of silence' in the DA

MORE than a month ago, a "gag order" was issued by Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban instructing all Department of Agriculture (DA) staff to decline any interview by the media or issue statements to the media without prior approval from his office.

My fellow columnist (from another paper), Cito Beltran, noted that this is a bad decision because the "gag order" seems to treat media as an adversary. In fact, he stressed that media should be treated as a partner by the DA in informing the public about its plans and activities. Which Cito did in the past by offering his column and radio/TV program as platforms that the DA can use to disseminate information on what is happening to the agriculture sector.