DOT’s star ratings frozen in limbo?

It’s been 74 years since World War II began in the Pacific theater after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 (Dec. 8 here at home) but for many Cebuanos, exactly 74 years today the 2nd World War became a reality when hundreds of Cebuanos who took the S.S. Corregidor, the last ship out of Manila on its way to Australia via Cebu struck a mine off the Island of Corregidor and broke in half and sunk in minutes. My father’s only brother, Bing Avila (Mr. Marquitos Roces once told me that he was a classmate of my uncle) perished in that sinking and his body was never found.

PT-Boats no. 32, 34, 351 41 under the command of Lt. John Bulkeley searched Manila Bay for survivors and they were able to rescue some 700 passengers. These are the same PT-Boats that a few weeks later would bring Gen. Douglas MacArthur from Corregidor to Bogo Pier near Cagayan de Oro so he could take a plane that flew from the Del Monte Pineapple plantation and on to Australia.

*      *      *

On the political front, it seems that the talk of the week is focused on the cases which Sen. Grace Poe filed before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) regarding her disqualification case and that of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte who can still be disqualified if the Comelec ruled on his being a substitute for a Pasay City mayor. Apparently, the Comelec hasn’t yet decided when they should rule on these cases which people say are now in limbo. We just learned that the family of the biological mother of Grace Poe finally surfaced and is willing to do a DNA test to prove she is a Filipino. How this can be a game changer for Sen. Poe.

Speaking of limbo, only one more day is left for Congress to approve the highly controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) Pres. Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III’s backbone program. People are betting that the BBL won’t see the light of day this year and with the Presidential elections in full swing next year, one can safely say that BBL will also go the way of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill… a broken promise of Pres. Aquino. Indeed time has ran out for the FOI Bill and the BBL so chances are, we can put them in the dustbin of history.

Another casualty of time running out is the recent controversy that hounded the Department of Tourism (DOT) where exactly a week ago, the House committee on tourism chaired by Rep. Rene Relampagos of Bohol, Rep. Raul del Mar of Cebu City and Rep. Gwen F. Garcia of the province of Cebu held a meeting with the stakeholders in the tourism industry on the issue of the DOT’s star-rating program.

Hotel and resort industry leaders were in attendance, including Mr. Manny Gonzales of Plantation Bay (his resort was downgraded from 5-Star to 4-Star), which triggered that House committee meeting with stakeholders and Mr. Bobby Joseph, the founder and chairman emeritus of Tourism Educators and Movers of the Philippines (TEAM). Last weekend, he was awarded the Bulong Pulungan sa Sofitel as 2015 Outstanding Exemplar in Tourism from the private sector.

Call it timely that during the 888 News Forum at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel in Nivel Hills, Cebu, Manny Gonzales was one of the guests, including suspended Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and Bobby Joseph. I asked Mr. Gonzales on how this suspension of the DOT’s Star Ratings program by the House Committee on Tourism would affect his ratings? He really didn’t know. It will surely affect the case he filed in the Office of the Ombudsman against the DOT officials.

But because the DOT officials who attended that congressional hearing admitted to the many flaws of their Star Rating program, which is why they were forced to suspend this in the first place, I would like to believe that they should restore the ratings of Plantation Bay until the DOT can come up with a measurable and quantitative measuring scheme.

The last word from House Committee Chairman Rene Relampagos was for DOT to sit down with the stakeholders and come up with a better Star Ratings program. But no one though that if the BBL has ran out of time to have it passed… it also meant that the members of Congress themselves can no longer find the time to meet with the stakeholders of the Tourism Industry and the DOT. In short the suspension of the DOT’s Star Rating program may have been inadvertently suspended indefinitely!

By the time Congress resumes session next year, our Congressmen will already be in the midst of the election campaign and they would never approve anything that will diminish their chances of getting re-elected. So unless some kind of miracle happens, one can say goodbye to the FOI Bill, the BBL and yes the DOT’s Star Ratings program.

*  *  *

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]