Borongan diocese reopens radio station after 13-year closure

Bishop Crispin Varquez leads the relaunching of the DYVW-AM radio station in Borongan City on June 26, 2018. ALREN BERONIO/ESTE NEWS

Thirteen years after it went off the air, the Diocese of Borongan’s radio station will be heard again over the air waves.

Bishop Crispin Varquez led the relaunching of the DYVW-AM station located on Baybay Boulevard in Borongan City on June 26.

With the use of social media and live streaming platforms, the station’s programs will also be broadcasted globally.

“With the use of our radio station and live streaming online, we can bring objective news and information to our people,” Varquez said.

The diocese has re-branded its media facilities as the Voice of the Word Media Network (VWMN) that includes a cable TV channel, an online news service, a local newspaper, a terrestrial AM Radio and an online FM radio which are intended to help, among others, arrest the spread of disinformation and fake news.

“This is a big challenge for us in the Church, how we counter the fake news done by irresponsible people who just want to advance their selfish goals and interests,” said Varquez.

Fr. Neil Tenefrancia, the assistant director of the Diocesan Commission on Mass Media and Social Communications, said “all programs will be on teleradio that can be viewed in the local cable TV, and will be streamed live on Facebook and Youtube.”

In his message, Papal nuncio Archbishop Gabriele Caccia lauded the project, saying that instruments for social communication are “great gifts from God” and should be utilized for the common good.

“The use of these media by the Church ought to be exemplary and reflect the highest models of truthfulness, while being at the same time instruments of hope,” Caccia said.

“I wish you many more years of service to the Gospel and to the truth it proclaims,” he added.

Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara of Pasig, head of the church’s Episcopal Commission on Social Communications, also hailed the diocese “for responding to the call to proclaim the Good News” through the media.

“A diocese that recognizes social communications as a tool for evangelization in the digital age
is truly commendable,” he said.

The diocesan radio station building and the 180-foot antenna tower that were built in 1991 were totally destroyed by super typhoon Yolanda in 2013.

The reopening of the radio station coincided with the relocation of the dioceses’ various other media initiatives within the old DYVW compound including the editorial office of its Este News Service and newspaper.