Will the DOT disobey a congressional order?

I got a response from no less than his Excellency Canadian Ambassador Neil Reeder a dear friend, on the article we wrote last Thursday about the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) Star Rating Program that has been put under suspension by the Congressional committee on tourism two weeks ago. Allow me to reprint this letter in full for the appreciation of our readers.

“Dear Bobit, I am writing in response to your recent column in The Philippine STAR regarding the “Improving Competitiveness in Tourism’ initiative of the Department of Tourism that is funded by the Government of Canada. Please note that this project is administered by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and is only one component of the larger Fostering Inclusive Growth Project (FIG) that ADB is implementing with Government of Canada funding.

The tourism component of FIG aims to support the Government of the Philippines’ Department of Tourism (DOT) in its efforts improve the competitiveness of the tourism industry and make the country more attractive to both foreign and domestic tourists. The project is governed by a Project Steering Committee composed of representatives from the DOT, ADB, the Government of Canada and the Tourism Congress and is implemented in four pilot areas: Bohol, Cebu, Davao and Palawan.

The project has three main components, as follows”

1. Regulatory impact assessment to reduce the regulatory burden and compliance costs:

2. The tourism industry skills development program, which includes supporting industry training through Industry Skills Grant Scheme and the development of a Tourism Human Resource Development Strategy and Action Plan; and,

3. Implementation of the hotel and resort quality assurance and accreditation system, which will assist the DOT to put in place a new star rating system for hotels, resorts and apartment hotels consistent with global standards.

Please note that this proposed rating system was a recommendation from the Government of the Philippines that Canada is now seeking to support. Only a portion of Canada’s assistance under the FIG project goes to support activities related to the implementation of this system.

Meanwhile the industry skills grant scheme mentioned above, provides grants to tourism businesses (hotels and resorts) and various industry associations to implement training programs to upgrade skills and competency levels of the industry. To date, skills grants amounting to US$ 1.2 million have been awarded to 48 establishments that are expected to train more than 8,000 members of the tourism workforce. For more information about this program visit the following website; www.pictourism.ph. Your sincerely Neil Reeder Ambassador.”

Thank you so much your Excellency for your quick response to that article. Since this project was implemented in Cebu, it is right my alley! However while this issue maybe water under the bridge, there are still many unanswered questions regarding the money that you already mentioned in your letter. The first question that comes to mind is a question I already asked, “Why is the government of Canada giving out grants on a star ratings program that the Canadian government doesn’t even have?

Second of all, the American’s have a saying, “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” There is no doubt that Philippine government agencies have a very high corruption track record. There was nothing wrong with the original star accreditation of the DOT and everything went wrong when they started to implement the Star Rating program simply because it opens up many areas for someone’s interpretation. Beauty is after all… in the eye of the beholder!

Thirdly and most important of all, this letter doesn’t mention that part of the money that the Canadian government gave for this program was contracted to an Australian consultant called Uniquest Pty, Limited (Australia) where US$5,259, 615 was the amount of the contract dated Nov. 7, 2013.  Why give the money to an Australian company for this project? Don’t we have members of the academe in our own country that could do this professionally? What really is the beef in bringing in that Australian consultant?

Perhaps we should ask why should the DOT implement this skills training program themselves? That will make them judge; jury and executioner of a hotel or resort that fails to meet someone’s standards. If you ask me, this program is a slap to all schools and universities that offer hotel and restaurant management programs. I smell something very fishy in the implementation of this program, especially when I read a report from the news DOT Assistant Sec. Art Boncato Jr. saying that they will proceed with the new star rating scheme. What is happening in the DOT? Is it really disobeying a direct order from Congress? This means this issue is far from over!

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