New PIA chief named

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has named a journalist and book author as the new chief of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), the official public information arm of the government.

According to a Facebook post by the Presidential Communications Office, Jose Torres Jr. succeeded Ramon Cualoping III, who assumed the post of PIA director general in 2020.

Torres was appointed to the post on March 19 but his designation was announced only yesterday.

“I am grateful to President Marcos for the opportunity and the privilege to serve the country in these trying times of misinformation and disinformation,” Torres said in a statement.

Torres started his career as a writer for the alternative news service Philippine News and Features in the late 1980s. He is a former sub-editor for the Saudi Gazette and investigative reporter for the now-defunct Isyu news magazine.

He also wrote for The Manila Times, The Philippine Post and The Sunday Paper and worked for the online portals of ABS-CBN and GMA. Torres also served as managing editor of the Bangkok-based Union of Catholic Asian News and editor-at-large for Church news agency LiCAS.news. He was also a member of the editorial board of Radio Veritas Asia.

He is the author of the book “Into the Mountain: Hostaged by the Abu Sayyaf.”

Torres obtained his philosophy degree at the University of Santo Tomas. He also earned theology units at the Ateneo de Manila University and obtained a diploma in multimedia journalism from the Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism.