Production and Evaluation of Citizens’ Charter (CC) Comics in Tublay, Benguet.

Abstract

The study was conducted to produce and evaluate the Citizens’ Charter (CC) comics in Tublay, Benguet. Specifically, it aimed to determine the socio-demographic profile of the respondents; determine the elements to be considered in the production of CC comics; determine the processes involved in the production of CC comics; determine the evaluation of the respondents to the CC comics in terms of content, language used, text, illustration and layout; determine the suggestions of the respondents for the improvement of the CC comics; and describe the final layout. The study was conducted in Tublay, Benguet from February 2016 to March 2016. Gretchelle F. Laron, the Administrative Assistant II of the Tublay Mayor’s Office, served as the sole key-informant of the study. Conversely, 50 visitors as estimated per week in the Municipal Offices of Tublay, Benguet were chosen as the respondents of the study. The information needed for the comics was derived from the documents inquired in the Municipal Office and evaluations from the key-informant. With the data collected, the researcher designed and produced the comics. FireAlpaca was used as editing software for the illustrations and InDesign for layouting. The produced comics on Tublay CC were evaluated by the key-informant followed by the community-respondents. Suggestions of the respondents were integrated into the final production of the outputs to be turned-over to the offices concerned. Elements considered in the study were as follows: panel, gutter, illustration, caption, word balloon, colors, text, format, and language. Three general stages were involved in the production of the comics namely Pre-production, Production, and Post-production. Further, the overall rating of the respondents to the comics was excellent. This implies that the comics meets the criteria and exceeds the expectations of the respondents. Thus, a total of five CC comics were produced as an output of the study. The study concluded that the characteristics of the audience must compliment the content of the comics to compel them from reading the material; comics are effective Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials for disseminating information; effectiveness of comics relies on the proper use of elements; the processes involved in the study must be based on the evaluations and suggestions of the community for the produced output to be read and used; and local languages spoken by the community must be used in the production of comics for easier comprehension of the message conveyed. Lastly, the study recommended that the Municipality of Tublay may consider the mass production of the comics and the production of comics about other CC Frontline services; other municipalities may consider producing comics about their CC Frontline services; and the processes involved in the production of the CC comics may be adopted by other researchers.