By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA
I could only shake my head reading and hearing shallow thinking columnists and broadcasters assailed the boondoggle of public funds by Pangasinan Governor Ramon Guico, III when he bought the provincial franchise of the Miss World-Philippines (MWP) and the absence of a financial bonanza his constituents could benefit from it.
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| Pangasinan Governor Ramon V. Guico, III (left of photo) |
The franchise –that cost probably
a few million pesos – will give a propaganda coup to Pangasinan’s tourism spots like Bolinao, Dasol and other pristine
beaches and maximize the come-ons either preserved or created by the mayors and
private stakeholders in their towns and cities like the Hundred Islands in
Alaminos City. In the pilgrimage town of Manaoag, she hosts more or less 55,000
folks every week who flock in the The
Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Mayor Ming Rosario told me he and
the private sectors collaborate to maximize by creating more
amenities for these church goers to stay longer in the land lock municipality so they can shell out more monies.
“We are
blessed here jobs are accessible to our people because of the tourists,” he disclosed to
me.
The other nascent and soon to be
discovered tourism spots could piggyback on the mileage every time the beauties
of MWP visited - for countless of times - the huge province.
TOURISM NO. 3 MONEY CHURNER IN PH
ECONOMY
These media men lashed out the Governor of how this franchise cannot give jobs to the unemployed and salvaged the poor farmers from the morass they’re snagged in.
Susmariosep! These
practitioners did not know that tourism is a money-churning juggernaut – mind
you No.3 contributor of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - in the Philippines
where many countries envy her for her comparative advantages on pricing
competitiveness (22nd) and natural resources (37th) like
those in Boracay, El Nido, Coron, Bolinao, Siargao and others according to
Tourism Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum.
This industry gave 5.23 million jobs last year
where the government received a revenue of P208.96 billion (equivalent to U.S
$3.68 billion). 25% of this came from Boracay (“PH 2022 tourism revenues hit
P209-B". Manila Bulletin. January 2, 2023).
In 2019 foreign arrivals peaked
at 8,260,913 and dwindled to 1.48 million individuals in 2020 when the Corona
Virus Disease-19 CoViD scourged the country and spiked again at 2.7 million in
2022.
The travel and tourism industry
contributed 6.2% to the country's GDP in 2022.
***
I wrote in Can Ph get Rid of Being a Tourism Slow Foot in the ASEAN that the Philippines could
eclipse Southeast Asia top No. 4 Singapore (almost 16 million tourists) and No.
5 Indonesia (13.62 million arrivals) as ranked by Global Data in 2019 after
then President Rodrigo Duterte infused $23 billion (PhP P1.3 Trillion) in tourism
infrastructure from 2019 and 2022.
Then Finance Undersecretary Grace
Karen Singson said in late of 2010s the government’s goal is to double the
number of foreign tourist arrivals, increase tourism revenues by 90 percent and
generate 14.4 percent of total Philippine jobs from the tourism sector by the
time Mr. Duterte stepped down in 2022. The CoViD-19 disrupted this goal in early
2020s.
The National Tourism Development
Plan (NTDP) investments cited Duterte’s ambitious projects to cover road
networks, airports, cruise ports, railway, site infrastructure, tourism
enterprise zones, transport units, accommodation facilities, and aircraft
acquisition.
“2,620 kilometers of tourism
roads over the next six years, from a baseline of 900 kilometers, which will
require an investment of $2 billion,’ then Finance Undersecretary
Singson told the media.
The Miss World-Philippines, the airports and the four lanes’ Pangasinan Link Expressway (PLEx) of the San Miguel Holdings Corp. (SMHC) interceded by Guico jibe with the national strategies how to boost tourism and generate jobs among Pinoys who breed like rabbits. Among these beneficiaries include those farmers and their children who want to abandon a less profitable livelihood.
On the alleged propensity of the Governor and his officials to go abroad as harped by his bashers who pooh-poohed it as junkets. Damn! Was it a junket for a governor and his fellow officials to go overseas and break bread with investors there?
Just take what I read on August
24 on this newspaper's columnist’s the eloquent Filipino writer’s Paquito Basila:
“Masigasig
na mga pinuno na last week ay nasa China para sa ilalagak ng mga Tsino na solar
power sa Unang Distrito, kauna-unahan sa lalawigan na proyekto na solar powered
plant. Sina Dasol Mayor Rizaldy Sadong Jimenez Bernal, First District
Congressman Arthur Del Fierro Celeste at Gov. Ramon Guico III ay nasa China to
see personally how a solar plant works”.
The U.S$503 million (Php P28.4
billion) twin solar power plants are to be constructed in Infanta and Dasol,
Pangasinan that will not only generate more power to industries in the province
but create more employment to the folks in Western Pangasinan.
PANGASINAN LINK EXPRESSWAY (PLEX)
The construction that will end
after four years of the 42.76-kilometer four lanes’ Pangasinan Link
Expressway (PLEx) by the SMHC will expedite travel
time from 20 to 30 minutes from Binalonan to Lingayen. Presently, it takes one
hour and forty minutes for a vehicle to run that stretch.
The P34 billion (U.S $602
million) expressway will not only spur tourism in the province but would even
give jobs this early to tens of thousands people and business folks in and out
of the province who would benefit on the spade work that will last to year
2027.
MY POSER
So who were those wise guys - son of a gun! - who said that the franchise on the Miss World-Philippines, travels of the Guv overseas and the 47.76 kilometers PLEx could not create jobs for the humongous population of this Northern Luzon’s province?
READ MY OTHER BLOG:
It’s the U.S not the Colombians that destroyed Escobar
MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA
I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.
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