ORMOC CITY – Mayor Eric Codilla of this city, during a convention of tourism officers at the multi-purpose hall of the New Ormoc City Hall here, said media who report “bad news” are one of the “human threats” to tourism development.
He enumerated the other threats as peace and order and financial crisis or recession.
In scoring media, the mayor recounted his travels abroad to countries where “bad news” are not allowed to land in the front pages. He said this is one good way to promote a particular country or area, alluding that media that report bad news or were critical were counterproductive.
As for Ormoc’s efforts to promote tourism, he said that he prioritized first putting the city’s finances in the pink of health. He said he raised tax collection without introducing new taxes and despite the fact that the latest tax ordinance was passed in 1991 yet.
Because of this, he added, the New City Hall where the 2-day convention was being held, was constructed to the tune of P383-million “without any loan”. He said that the total floor area of the New City Hall is 14,800 square meters, almost 1.5 hectares and everything is new – from airconditioning to furniture.
He also quickly defended a P50-million loan that appears in the 2008 audit report, saying it was a loan that was not a loan.
He said they merely monetized the city’s IRA which was withheld by the Erap administration as part of its austerity measures, a move which was later struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. To monetize the funds, they chose between “rediscounting” it at the LandBank and “loaning” it for a lesser interest rate. So, it is not actually a loan, he said.
He also said that Ormoc has a variety of tourism offerings to a wide swathe of visitors. It has governance tourism, agricultural tourism, eco-destinations, even educational tourism like the city’s E-centers which are now generating visitors from other LGU’s.
The mayor also underscored developing local tourism is expensive and the government, to jump start in their localities, will have to spend on it without hope of ROI or return of investment. Taking the example of Disneyland, he said it might be a popular destination but its financial record show it is “losing”.
Throw in the Pinoy’s “crab mentality”, he alluded, this is also what is wrong in the country. He pointed out that when a tourist destination puts up a zipline, every other part of the country also wants to put up one. “Lugaw karon, lugaw tanan ugma”, he said.
On the other hand, the mayor also lauded the tourism officers for convening together and “planning” for the future of the industry in Eastern Visayas. He said that planning should take seventy percent of their efforts and implementation only 30 percent, because with such a huge preparation, implementation should go smoothly.
He said it was important to know the capabilities and limitations of a particular place, like during the time when Ormoc wanted to host the annual convention of Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
However, he said, they backed out from aspiring to host 4,000 people when reality showed the city cannot yet host a large gathering. Right now, he said, Ormoc can accommodate around 2,000 visitors.
For her part, DOT regional director Karina Rosa Tiopes thanked Mayor Codilla for hosting them a welcome dinner at the Sabin Resort Hotel the night before. She also thanked the mayor for the use of the convention center, which brought down the registration fees of the participants.
As to the tourism officers present, she said that the convention was an avenue for them to coalesce and put their heads together to adopt a comprehensive approach to tourism development in the region. “We cannot just develop tourism by cooking chopsuey”, she said, and urged them to “prioritize, cooperate and show active participation” and be determined, committed and have the political will to do what it plans to do with its directions in tourism. By Lalaine M. Jimenea
“Bad news” media are “human threats” to tourism development – Mayor Codilla
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