Tourism Congress, DOT agree to amend IRR of Tourism Act

MANILA, Philippines - The controversial implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Tourism Act are finally undergoing some revisions.

Jaime Cura, Tourism Congress vice president, said their members and the Department of the Tourism (DOT) have agreed to amend the IRR.

Cura said the Tourism Congress also agreed to accept accredited tourism enterprises as new members and to hold the election for 18 new trustees and officers of the Congress.

“For the sake of unity and to enable the tourism industry to move on, the Tourism Congress agreed with Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez on a compromise for the revision of the IRR,” Cura said in an interview.

Cura said the Tourism Congress recognized that the DOT under Jimenez also has the right and obligation to revise the guidelines of the Tourism Act.

Under the compromise presented by Jimenez, Cura said the Tourism Congress would have two kinds of members — the existing member associations and DOT-accredited enterprises.

During the Tourism Congress meeting on Nov. 10, Cura said member associations can participate but would not be allowed to cast votes, with only the accredited enterprises having the voting power.

Cura said tourism enterprises with expired accreditation may still qualify and attend the Tourism Congress meeting if they have submitted their renewal of accreditation.

When the IRR was drafted during the term of former Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, officials of the Federation of Tourism Industries of the Philippines filed a legal suit seeking the nullification of the IRR.

Former secretary Alberto Lim also initiated efforts to amend the IRR, apparently triggering his disagreement with the members of the Tourism Congress.

Cura said Lim should have just waited for the term of the board of trustees to end instead of pushing for their immediate ouster by claiming that the IRR was illegal.

The IRR, according to critics, resulted in the industry’s many divisions with overlapping and duplicating functions and was created under the previous administration not in accordance with the spirit and intent of the law.

Lim alleged that only about 50 people representing associations were present when the Tourism Congress was convened on Nov. 25, 2009 compared to over 1,000 accredited tourism enterprises that were supposed to comprise the Congress as mandated by the Tourism Act of 2009.

Cura expressed hope that with the agreement to amend the IRR, disunity within the industry would finally be resolved.

“We cannot second-guess the position of the critics of the IRR, but hopefully the agreement would put things in better light,” he said.