Suroy-suroy guests to judge towns

CEBU, Philippines - Tourists who participated in the three-day Suroy Suroy Sugbo Southern Heritage tour that started yesterday are not just mere visitors but also serve as judges of the towns participating in the tourism program.

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, in an interview yesterday at their stop in Argao town, said the foreign tourists as well as the balikbayans who tagged along with her for the caravan will choose the “cleanest” and “over-all best” locality among the 21 places that they will be visiting.

Specifically, Garcia said, the tourists will judge the towns and cities in terms of best dance performance, cleanest area and cleanest comfort rooms. In January last year, tourists reportedly complained on some of the towns’ dirty comfort rooms, a constructive criticism that the towns have apparently solved.

Yesterday, Garcia and the tourists who filled five Ceres buses have already visited Minglanilla, Naga City, Sibonga, Argao, Dalaguete, Alcoy and Boljoon.

On Thursday, they will visit Oslob, Santander, Samboan, Ginatilan, Malabuyoc, Alegria and Badian. On Friday, they will stop over in Moalboal, Alcantara, Ronda, Dumanjug, Barili, Carcar City, then Talisay City.

Garcia said the over-all presentation of the towns that they have visited so far improved in this year’s Suroy Suroy Sugbo, although they just visited the same localities last October.

The tourists, which are mostly pensioners, will choose one from among these towns at the end of their three-day caravan on Friday.

Garcia said this is so far the biggest group that joined her tourism project, done every year. For this year, participants are from France, Germany, and Korea and balikbayans from Las Vegas, Nevada. – (FREEMAN)