All roads lead to Cebu for the MICECON and CHELE!

The fight against Trafficking in Persons (TIP) has once again gained mileage with the arrest of some 15 girls from Jetafe, Bohol who were first brought to Cebu and scheduled to leave on a ferry bound for Manila. Thanks to the vigilance of the Maritime Police in Region 7 who got a report from an alert security guard on board the vessel. So when the girls arrived in the Port of Cebu they were caught in Pier 4. Their ages ranged from 14 to 17 years old who were promised jobs in Manila as waitresses, housemaids or caretakers. But will they really land in those innocent jobs in Manila?

International Justice Mission (IJM) Director Andrey Sawchenko told the media that “Preliminary indications are they were recruited for sexual exploitation.” Again, this incident tells us that Human Trafficking is still very much around in this country despite our having moved forward in this fight against this form of human slavery. Clearly our advocacy against Human Trafficking where we put posters on board inter-island ships have worked and has now saved these minor girls from a bleak future.

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This week, all roads lead to Cebu as the Province celebrates its 442nd founding anniversary where major activities have been lined up for the entire week. Last Monday, the expanded Green and Wholesome Environment that Nurtures (eGwen) Our Cebu Program of the Province of Cebu convened at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) where some 1,500 delegates, mostly provincial officials together with its development partner the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI) held its 3rd Partner’s Conference. This year’s theme is “Strengthening Public-Private Partnership in Governance.” That’s what eGwen is all about… Good Governance! 

This is already the 3rd Partners Conference on eGwen, which should tell you that this is one Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between RAFI and the province of Cebu that was institutionalized long before the Aquino Administration came up with PPP as its flagship program. The eGwen Partnership program tackles issues such as cultural heritage, environmental and urban governance, which is participated by all the municipalities in Cebu Province which come together to compete with one another on who best can give good governance to their constituents. This spirit of competition has greatly improved the LGU’s governance especially in far-flung rural areas.

At the heart of the eGwen project is the “Bugsay” principle, conceptualized by Sir Roberto “Bobby” Aboitiz two years ago, where he asked all Cebuanos to paddle or “Busay” our Cebu banca forward in one direction. Also rolling off this week is the now famous Pasigarbo sa Sugbo Festival of Festivals this Saturday where all the 44 towns of Cebu Province would compete in a song and dance that makes tourists come to Cebu. It’s like the Sinulog Festival in that it is participated by all the towns from the Province of Cebu, but it is unlike the Sinulog which is limited to its religious theme.

Also convening this week is the Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conventions and Exhibits Conference (MICECON) which brings to Cebu all the stakeholders in the tourism industry. While MICECON is not a huge conference, those attending this conference are the people who will bring the tourists into our shores, which is why the MICECON is so important, not just for Cebu, but also for the entire tourist industry in this country. MICECON aims to bring international conventions, exhibitions and incentive travel to our great Philippine Islands, where we have tourist destinations that other countries do not have. I gathered that Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim has already promised to attend the MICECON; I hope we’ll meet him in Cebu.

Meanwhile, right after the MICECON is a very quiet international conference that has a huge potential impact to our tourism industry and the Department of Education (DepEd). This is the 2nd Cebu International TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) Conference that will roll off on Aug. 13-14 to be held at the University of Southern Philippines (USP) Campus in Lahug, Cebu. I attended a TESOL Conference in 2009 and they had only 40 international speakers, three of whom were English professors from the Oxford University. They were so impressed with Cebu; they decided to hold the 1st TESOL Conference here last year.

This conference is hosted by the Cebu Hub for English Language Excellence (CHELE) which aims to make Cebu the English Language Hub of the World. Since 2009, CHELE is fast achieving this noble goal. That means for tourism, foreign students will come to Cebu not just for a three-day visit, but stay for a month or two. Best of all, despite our moribund Education system, foreign students will come here in droves to learn English from us, something the DepEd never dreamed of, which is why both CHED and DepEd have endorsed all English teachers to attend this conference.

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