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| Rep. Velasco with DOT's Alma Rita Jimenez and Tourism Chair Rep. Lucy Torres Gomez |
On February 14, 2018, the House Committee on Tourism tackled House
Bill No. 5882 which sought to amend Republic Act No. 9593, also known as the
“Tourism Act of 2009,” in order to transfer the allocation of forty percent
(40%) of the gross travel tax collections of the Tourism Infrastructure and
Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) from the Commission on Higher Education
(CHED) to a new government agency, the National Tourism Training and Manpower
Program (NTTMP). The measure was authored by Cong. Lucy Torres-Gomez, chairperson of the committee.
Rep. Lord Allan Velasco,
Committee Vice Chairperson, supported the measure and discussed with Department
of Tourism (DOT) Undersecretary Alma Rita Jimenez the possibility of involving
the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in the
implementation of Rep. Torres Gomez’s bill, which is to train practitioners in
the tourism industry.
To this end, Velasco recommended that the province of
Marinduque should also be given the opportunity to enhance its manpower
services as regards the tourism industry. With ample number of tourist spots
and destinations in the island province Marinduque, he stressed, has a great potential and
should be developed like the other areas in the country. Consequently, it would
also benefit from the training and capacity building program that the chairperson envisioned, he added.
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| View of Marinduque. Photo credit: deaconblue |
