By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo / Special to the BusinessMirror
A FORMER tourism official on Tuesday expressed concern on the alleged irregularities at the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) involving its chief operating officer (COO), Cesar Montano.
In a text message, Joseph “Ace” Durano, tourism secretary under the Arroyo administration, told the BusinessMirror that these goings-on at the TPB will impact on the tourism industry as a whole. “Although TPB is blessed with good and effective career personnel, how the COO performs his leadership responsibilities will determine the performance of the agency, and the performance of the agency will affect the performance of the [tourism] sector.”
With looming Blue Ribbon Committee hearings, as well as an ongoing investigation by the Presidential Action Center (PACE) in Malacañang, Montano appears bent on showing everyone he is doing his job earnestly.
Government sources said the embattled COO of TPB is now showing up at the office every day “and holding frequent meetings with the management.” Also, the same sources averred that “so far, he has been finishing the meetings” that he’s been attending, especially those held with the management committee. “In fairness, he didn’t abruptly leave our meeting [yesterday],” a TPB insider said.
It would be recalled that one of the complaints against Montano, which was contained in a “white paper” filed at PACE by so-called concerned employees and management officers, was that he would often leave the meetings with managers and staff even when these have not yet been concluded.
Aside from the PACE investigation, Sen. Nancy Binay has also filed a resolution to have the Blue Ribbon Committee investigate Montano and the issues leveled against him. (See “Tourism stakeholders urge Montano to resign” in the BusinessMirror, March 24, 2017.)
However, Durano, who was congressman of the Fifth District of Cebu from 1998 to 2004, and from 2013 to 2016, did not feel the Senate was an appropriate venue to investigate the issues versus Montano. “[It was the employees and management] that filed the complaint against the COO. For practical reasons, either the DOT secretary or the Office of the President should decide on the matter, because the agency is inutile with its COO and [employees] not in good terms.”
He said he was not aware of the relationship between Montano and Secretary to the Cabinet Leoncio B. Evasco Jr., who is investigating the allegations. Other tourism stakeholders have raised the possibility of a whitewash in the PACE investigation, due to the alleged friendship between Evasco and Montano. “I don’t really know enough about the dynamics [between the two officials]. Let’s just hope this will be resolved objectively and quickly,” Durano stressed.
Meanwhile, the TPB Board Meeting on March 24 failed to push through due to a “lack of quorum,” BusinessMirror sources said. Incidentally, that date fell on a Friday, with TPB employees reportedly on their third day of protest against their COO, a number of them showing up at the office in black attire, as if in mourning.
The board meeting has been rescheduled for April 7, sources said. A board member who declined to be identified said he “[hoped] a quorum will be reached so the board meeting will finally push through…and issues can be resolved.” The board member failed to confirm if this meant he and his other colleagues on the board would be confronting Montano about the allegations against him, saying he didn’t want to “preempt discussions”. Despite the raging issues against their COO, a TPB employee who requested anonymity said, “The show must go on. We’re still working.”
An attached agency of the DOT tasked with marketing Philippine destinations to foreign and local travelers, the TPB issued a news statement for the first time on Monday, since Montano took over as COO.
It said the agency was hosting a familiarization trip for some 50 select tour operators and travel agents from the United Kingdom starting this week, in cooperation with the DOT office in London and flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL).
The group is composed of travel agents ranging from large consolidators, online travel agencies and dive specialists, to luxury leisure boutique agencies, all of whom arrived on Monday via PAL’s direct flight from London.
On the group’s itinerary is a visit to Intramuros, a business-to-business meeting and welcome dinner to meet local tour operators and travel agents, then on to individual itineraries to Boracay, Cebu, Bohol, Puerto Princesa and El Nido, as well as to Dumaguete and Puerto Galera for divers.
Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo and Montano are expected to meet with the visitors during their trip to Intramuros, the B2B networking session and welcome dinner. In the news statement, Montano said the fam trip “serves to bolster the drive among these foreign travel agents as key partners to increase their confidence to sell more effectively the Philippine various tourist destinations to their clientele back home”.
He stressed that “the United Kingdom remains the highest source of tourism arrivals to the Philippine from Europe.” Visitor arrivals from the UK reached 173,299 in 2016, up 12.1 percent from 2015.
According to Gerard Panga, Tourism Attaché for Northern and Southern Europe, more British travelers “are visiting the Philippines through the direct and convenient PAL daily flight service from London’s Hearthrow Airport to Manila”.