Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD) coordinators participate in the two-day journalism workshop entitled ‘Training on News Feature Writing and Basic Mobile Photography’ on March 27-28, 2025, at the Department of Agriculture Regional Office 1 (DA-RFO 1) BAC Conference Room and at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Conference room, respectively.

Initiated by SAAD-PRDC or the Public Relations and Developmental Communication Unit’s DevComm drive, some 25 SAAD coordinators from both DA and BFAR train their journalism skills through writing and photography workshops. .

Day one of the event focused on news feature writing with resource speaker Mr. Chester Carlo Trinidad of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) La Union Government Information Center Coordinator (GICC), highlighting both technical and creative aspects in writing a news feature. Participants were able to apply their learnings through a news feature writing activity held on the same day.

Day two covers mobile photography with an emphasis that SAAD employees usually go out in the field using mobile phones for documentation, and so their photography skills using convenient gadgets were highlighted in the event. Resource speaker Ms. Caren Grace R. Cabanayan-Carbonell, OIC-GICC of PIA-Ilocos Norte, told participants that the training is not only for their personal gain but for their professional growth as they are providing documentation and news stories for the public.

The training is focused on improving the coordinators’ DevComm skills, allowing them to provide better information services to the public, to the farmers, and to beneficiaries of the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD).

For more inquiries about the Special Area for Agricultural Development (SAAD), follow the SAAD Ilocos Official Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/saadilocosregion? and the BFAR Ilocos SAAD Page: https://www.facebook.com/BFARUnoSAAD?