Tourism and corruption

REACTION. A foreigner from a country in Oceania, who is now based in Cebu after having married a Cebuana for 13 years now, told an Ear informer he did not think it's the lack of promotion that obstructs Philippine tourism's supposed take off. It's not even the occasional bombing. Truth be told, it's because of the people here, he bluntly said.

CORRUPT. The 68-year-old Kiwi, who once served an important administrative position in the government of his home country, said the problem is the culture of corruption. “From the bagger at the airport, to the taxi driver, to the pasalubong center, down to the Customs and Immigration bureaus, there's a trace of corruption,” he said. The well-traveled foreigner admitted, though, that the Filipinos' strong family ties cannot be seen anywhere else in the world.