Journalist and award-winning author Jose A. Torres is the new chief of the Philippine Information Agency following an announcement by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on May 23.
Torres will replace outgoing chief Ramon Cualoping III, who served as Director General of the agency since 2020.
He is one of the founding editors of LiCAS.news, a Church news agency based in Bangkok, and was a consultant for the editorial board of Radio Veritas Asia in 2018.
In an interview with LiCAS.News, the new Director General said part of his duty as Director General is to find ways to “bring the government and its policies and programs closer to the basic masses to allow them fully participate in the democratic process.”
Torres’ journalism career began in the 1980’s, first for the Philippine News and Feature and later for the Saudi Gazette.
Upon his return to Manila in the late 90s, he became an investigative reporter before joining the Manila Times, The Philippine Post, and The Sunday Paper.
Torres also joined abs-cbnNEWS.com and GMA News Media Inc.
He is also the author of the books “Unholy Nation: Stories from a Gambling Republic” in 2004 and “Into the Mountain: Hostaged by the Abu Sayyaf” in 2002, both receiving the Philippines’ National Book Award for Journalism.
Torres was also one of the foreign media correspondents who accompanied Pope Francis on his Papal Visit to Sri Lanka and the Philippines in January 2015.
The Philippine Information Agency (PIA) is the official public information arm of the Philippine government, with 16 regional offices and information centers in 78 provinces across the country.- Shirly Benedictos
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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