By Mario Casayuran
At a time when the last and the least, and not the best and the brightest, are dumped on agencies, Department of Tourism (DOT) is fortunate to have her. It did not only get a manager but an ad model as well.
Bernadette Romulo Puyat gestures as the Commission on Appointments (CA) confirmed her appointment as Tourism Secretary at the Senate building in Pasay City, May 30, 2018. (Czar Dancel / MANILA BULLETIN)
This was how Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto described Bernadette Fatima Romulo-Puyat in being of the several senators who seconded a motion by the Commission on Appointments (CA) tourism committee on her confirmation of her appointment as Department of Tourism (DOT) secretary.
‘’She is one Tourism secretary who can also be the national poster girl for tourism. As you can see, she has the face that could launch a thousand cruise ships. And I say that with authority having been married to the original Eskinol girl,’’ Recto said.
Romulo-Puyat is one of three members of President Duterte’s Cabinet whose appointments were confirmed by the CA before it, the Senate and the House of Representatives go into their sine adjournment tomorrow.
’’Her two decades of government service is detailed in three pages of fine print in her CV (curriculum vitae)
While her longest stint has been with the Department of Agriculture, which spanned three administrations, what is not well known is that she had served in four dozens task forces, committees, advisory councils, and corporate boards,’’ he said.
’’Despite her punishing workload, at home and at work, she made time to teach fiscal policy for 20 years in that public school in Diliman,’’ he added.
Recto said he believes that Puyat’s background would serve her in good stead as she restores sense on how the billions of pesos allocated to DOT, both regular and off-budget, are spent.