P-Noy: New tourism chief to take over by Aug. 31

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino has chosen a new tourism secretary.

“That is done, there is already a replacement. He will take office, by Aug. 31, if I am not mistaken. He only asked for time and not to divulge his name because this early, he has earned 48 new old friends. So, he wants to be able to use the time to situate himself properly to take over the function,” Aquino said yesterday in an ambush interview in Baguio City, where he graced an event.

Industry sources maintained that the top bet for the next tourism chief remains to be advertising bigwig Ramon Jimenez Jr. Jimenez is the current chief executive officer and senior consultant of Woo Consultants, Inc. and former vice president and executive creative director ofAce Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising

But Aquino refused to give further details, except saying that the next tourism chief “has the qualities that are necessary that I think (can) foster tourism growth.”

“I would rather him talk about the plans that he will be implementing but for now, I would have to accede to his request (to give him time), he is going to lose (a lot), he comes from the private sector, he comes in massive reduction in pay,” he said.

He said the new DOT chief first wants to learn the nuances of his work “from the Tourism Act to the various bureaucracies — on how to work with government.”

“He and his wife prayed for it for quite a while. And the result of his discernment is to accept it, sacrifice,” he added.

On Friday, the President said he was expecting the new tourism chief to be ready in 12 days’ time when he is supposed to have scrutinized “anything and everything.”

The President meanwhile denied any political horse-trading in the DOT, which could have led to the resignation of Alberto Lim. He said such claims were obviously aimed at creating controversy.

Lim was quoted in earlier reports as saying that Aquino delayed action on a Commission on Audit report of anomalous transactions traced to Mark Lapid, chief operating officer of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, because the President supposedly had bigger political considerations, which was to convince Lapid’s senator-father, Manuel to vote for the postponement of elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“I don’t know if that is correct, I think he was misquoted. He actually (sent me) a text, he said he was asked and he answered. And it was played up,” he said.

Aquino said there was no relation between the ARMM elections and Lim’s resignation or the younger Lapid’s case.

“Bertie Lim has an issue against Mark, Senator Lapid was claiming that there was harassment on his son Mark. So, there are charges, counter-charges, we will investigate,” Aquino said, adding the cases would be resolved based on their own merits.

“Actually I haven’t talked with Senator Lapid in very, very long while. I think the last time I talked to him was still in the Senate,” he added.

Meanwhile, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago called for an inquiry into allegations that millions of pesos intended for tourism development were lost during Lim’s stint at the DOT.

“The Filipino people deserve competent officials. When it comes to the disbursement of public funds, each official must exercise a higher degree of prudence in executing projects on behalf of the government,” Santiago said.

“Given that tourism is an indispensable element of the national economy, it is necessary to look into reports that Lim has failed to exercise the functions of his office with utmost responsibility and efficiency, thus resulting in the loss of millions of pesos from the government and causing detrimental damage and disunity in the local tourism industry,” she said. 

She also cited various issues faced by Lim, including the “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” campaign slogan, his failure to convene the Tourism Promotions Board, and inability of the open skies policy to bring in new carriers and the accompanying tourists.

The senator said Lim also violated the law for his failure to convene the Tourism Congress.

Santiago filed Senate Resolution 557 calling for the inquiry last Aug. 11, a day before Lim announced his resignation. – With Marvin Sy