The government’s tourism program has fallen victim to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Thursday's Senate budget hearing, Senator Richard J. Gordon was surprised to learn that 2,000 employees of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprises Zone Authority (TIEZA) of Department of Tourism (DOT) have no work.
Mark Lapid, acting TIEZA general manager, testified that TIEZA’s P12 billion budget was gotten by the national government for its Bayanihan One Act to meet expenses for the pandemic.
Since activity at TIEZA is suspended, its workers are not working, he told Gordon.
‘’This is a travesty,’’ Gordon stated upon hearing the Lapid testimony.
TIEZA operates and manages tourist facilities from Luzon to Mindanao. These facilities offer services ranging from hotels to restaurants.
The DOT is asking for a P5.7 billion budget for 2022. Its 2021 budget is P4.9 billion.
Later, Senator Imee Marcos, chairwoman of the Senate Economic Affairs committee, moved that the DOT budget should be submitted to the Senate plenary session for debate pending the submission of documents and reports requested by senators.
Marcos revealed that per Commission on Audit (COA) report, DOT, as of December 2020, has not liquidated almost half billion pesos that it had funneled to various government agencies from the past one to five years.
DOT Secretary Berna Romulo Puyat said these accounts were done before her time at DOT.
Puyat then cited a COA audit report stating that DOT has the highest audit rating among all government agencies.
Senator Nancy Binay also said that there is a P32 billion Tourism Development Program where the DOT is not a part planning the projects.
Puyat said the DOT is only furnished with the copy of the program except the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) which undertakes P12 billion worth of tourism-oriented roads.
Marcos said she is perplexed why other departments were involved in this program.
These agencies include the Departments of Environment and Natural Resources, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Health, Information and Communications Technology, Trade and Industry, and Transportation.
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