July 4th, 2023
House Ways and Means Chair Joey Sarte Salceda (Albay, 2nd district) said he will not join calls for Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco to resign, and that instead, “the conversation should focus on ways forward.”
“I asked her to fire the consultant. She did. I asked her to correct mistakes and investigate internally. She did. I asked her to be more inclusive with destinations featured. She did. When we resume session in Congress, we will seek facts. She is open. We can disagree without malice,” Salceda said.
“I will criticize openly, as needed. That’s my job as a legislator and a representative of my people. But after heated discussions, we must remain focus on solving problems.”
“And once the controversy about this rebranding effort passes, we will still need to fix our airports, our accommodations, our accessibility. So, no, I will not join calls for her to resign. Certainly not when a lot of it is premised on speculation. I focused on facts in my criticisms. I want to focus on facts on the solutions.”
In an interview today, Salceda also said “I will help her.”
“I am asking everyone to help her. I would like to summon the collective intellect, energy, and innovativeness of the brightest minds in advertising and promotions to help the DOT.”
“Albay will help her. I offer to her my personal experience as former Governor of Albay, when we grew foreign tourist arrivals by 4,700 percent, and became the country’s rising tourism star. Albay has 1.32 tourists per resident, pre-pandemic, higher than the 0.57 per resident number nationally. It’s one of the best – if not the best, pound-for-pound,” Salceda added in a subsequent statement.
Salceda was a highly-commended governor who was given the first Tourism Star award by the Department of Tourism in 2015 for his efforts to make Albay a leading tourist destination. Salceda was also recently given the Special Grand Tourism Award by the Manila Overseas Press Club.
“I also want to work with her on the Bicol International Airport, and other issues. Let’s move forward.”