A first and last interview with Sec. Alberto Lim

I attended the very successful Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions/Events Conference (MICECON) last Thursday morning at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) and the plenary hall was jam-packed with delegates and stakeholders from the tourism industry. I was a bit late and missed the speech of Gov. Gwen Garcia, but I was on time to hear the speech of Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim who wanted to restore our country’s image as a major MICE destination.

­­ Indeed, our tourism industry in the late 70s boomed during the Marcos years when they built the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), and held the first huge convention – the World Law Conference. Remember the Miss Universe pageant when Amparo Muñoz won the title? During those days, Hong Kong and Singapore could only sigh in envy of how far ahead the Philippines was as far as MICE was concerned. Remember there was yet no tourism industry in Mactan or Boracay in those days.

But then the governments of Hong Kong and Singapore did something about it and now the reverse is true and now we can only sigh in envy at the number of MICE events that these two countries are having. Perhaps the problem why we can’t move forward in MICE is our narrow or politically minded people and yes, many of them are in the media.

A case in point is the flak from the Cebu media that Gov. Gwen Garcia got for building the CICC in time for the 14th ASEAN Summit at a cost of some P600 million, which is a fraction of the cost of the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Center, which then cost some HK$2.5 billion and which by the way was recently renovated again.

Singapore’s Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Center was opened in 1999 at a cost of S$220 million with a total floor area of 100,000 square meters that could handle 10,000 delegates. This pales in comparison with the PICC today and makes Cebu’s CICC look like a small corner of Suntec. This is why as far as MICE is concerned, the Philippines has declined quite sharply. If the Cebu governor did not construct the CICC, perhaps the venue for the MICECON would have been the Waterfront Hotel, the only other facility in Cebu that could handle a huge convention like this.

Incidentally, I finally got to “formally” meet with Secretary Lim who requested a one-on-one meeting, which we had at the Cebu Country Club by 5:30 p.m. We had a very frank exchange on many issues regarding the tourism industry and why under his watch, it has polarized certain groups with one supporting him, and the other wanting him to quit.

Basically, the bone of contention was the Tourism Congress, which was created into law sponsored by Sen. Richard Gordon and its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) issued in 2009 during Secretary Ace Durano’s time, recognizing groups of accredited establishments to participate and vote in the Tourism Congress. However, one group led by Mrs. Alejandra “Dading” Clemente didn’t like this proviso and filed a case against the DOT (then under Secretary Durano) to declare the IRR void for being contrary to the provisions of the Tourism Act of 2009.

When Secretary Lim (who is supported by the group of Dading Clemente) assumed as DOT secretary, Clemente never dropped this case. But Secretary Lim agreed to redo the IRR because as he pointed out to me, Congress (in truth, it was only a statement from Rep. Miraflores) allowed him to do so. But for as long as this case is in court, there is a presumption of legality. I asked Secretary Lim why didn’t his friend Dading Clemente drop her case? He had no idea. But in my book, it only proves that what ails the tourism industry is infighting as to who wants to control the Tourism Congress.

The terms of office of the private sector members of the Tourism Congress would expire this November, but Secretary Lim is pushing for a Tourism Congress this coming September. Hence, I asked him, why can’t he wait for another two months when the terms of the present representation expire? Secretary Lim was somewhat determined to run this course. But I told him that doing so would end up with a possible lawsuit for he would now create two boards if he calls for a new Tourism Congress in September.

We also touched on the issue of the “new” master plan. But when I asked him what percentage did Indra (which won the bid) contribute to this master plan, he could not say exactly, except saying that the old master plan was practically motherhood statements, while the new one is focused on certain tourism clusters. Of course, I cannot comment on this yet until I get a copy of the new one and compare it to the old master plan. As I was about to e-mail this column, ABS-CBN’s ANC reported that Secretary Lim had resigned and would be replaced by Mon Jimenez. Honestly, I had no inkling that Secretary Lim was poised to resign and that I would be the last person who interviewed him before he quit the DOT.

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