In Loboc, Bohol, Planned merger of floating restos hit

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines — The plan of the municipal tourism office to merge all floating restaurants in Loboc, Bohol will take away the owners' right to free enterprise.

Tessie Labunog Sumampong, operator of Riverwatch Floating Restaurant, made this statement upon learning of the merger plan by the LGU, saying that her business' efforts and marketing investments will be futile instead of promoting healthy competition among operators to improve their services.

The merger plan cropped up anew after the recent "food poisoning" incident where a hundred of touring students and teachers of the Bohol Island State University were hospitalized when served with spoiled shrimps by one of the floating restaurants in Loboc.

During a recent media interaction, Sumampong said implementing the merger system would not address the existing problem and would only pose even more problems and complicate things instead.

"The solution should be to focus on the problem at hand, focus on the boat operator that had the most complaints and strictly implement the standards. It takes away healthy competition, which motivates business to aim higher standards of service. Some of the operators have problems within their establishments such as labor issues, among others. We are not willing to risk getting involved with those issues," Sumampong said.

The planned merger of floating restaurant operators into one corporation will entail the assigning of schedules among the boats. "This new system will he similar to that of public utility vehicles that take turns in accommodating commuters. As a result, walk-in guests will not be able to freely choose which boat they will board," she said.

The LGU had considered this new system as the solution to problems on the quality of food and service provided by some operators. The Office of the Mayor and the Municipal Tourism Office have plans on enforcing the new system by approving an ordinance, based on the meeting with the floating restaurant operators last week.

"Mergers should be voluntary and that all parties are willing and should have a mutual understanding. It should not be forced upon," said Sumampong who earlier sought advice from the Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry on how to deal with the plan of the Loboc LGU.

"We are greatly alarmed by this since this would imply that sanctions would be imposed to those that would not join the merger. Our company has been in operation for eight years. Through the years we have gained trust from patrons, agencies and tour operators. Ever since, we have the most number of guests among operators; proof that we are going in the right direction. We recently received a certificate of excellence award from Trip Advisor, one of the most trusted travel website in the world," Sumampong told The Freeman.

Sumampong claimed her restaurant has the biggest share of guests, 84 percent of them walk-in tourists. "The system would greatly affect our sales and therefore will be disadvantageous to the business. It may result to reduction of our personnel. Our employees are like family to us and they have been instrumental to the success of our business. Most of them have been in service to us for a number of years," she said. (FREEMAN)