The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will launch on Wednesday an online media forum that aims to ramp up its information campaign amid the pandemic.

According to DOLE Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, the program will be called “V-Café@DOLE”.

“It is during a crisis when people need news and information the most. And as the government prepares for the recovery, we need to enhance our capacity to keep the people abreast of what the government is doing,” he said in a press release.

For its inaugural edition, the V-Café@DOLE forum will feature Bello himself.

Questions will be tackled via Zoom, Facebook Live, and other social media platforms, on the day’s current issues and labor developments.

“This weekly online ‘talakayan’ (forum) adheres to current protocols on social distancing while helping usher in the new normal in media engagements and the conduct of public discourse on the web,” the DOLE chief added.

The online forum will be conducted once a week.

Each edition will feature a key DOLE official, and from any of its 59 attached agencies, bureaus, offices, various Philippine Overseas Labor Offices, and regional and field offices.

“The strictures imposed by social distancing compels us to take advantage of the growing reliance on online platforms for group meetings while also ensuring the safety of media practitioners,” he added. (PNA)