Private tourism group urges Aquino to pick new DoT head

Private tourism players on Friday urged President Benigno Aquino III to pick a new tourism chief who can unify the industry, even as a Malacañang official said she saw no sign of anyone packing to leave the Cabinet.

One of the Cabinet members rumored to be facing reassignment, Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas, said  Mr. Aquino had given him no hint that he was about to be moved to another post.

Jaime Cura, external vice president of the private sector-led Tourism Congress, said he was not surprised Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim had been mentioned in news reports as among three Cabinet members supposedly giving Mr. Aquino problems, one of whom might be shifted to another position.

Based on the Tourism Congress’ experience with Lim, Cura said Lim’s first year in office had shown he was “not the kind of leader” the Department of Tourism (DoT) needed at this time.

“(We) have no direct knowledge that Secretary Lim is one of the so-called ‘bad news’ trio in the Cabinet of the President but to be honest, we are not surprised,” Cura said in a phone interview.

Tourism recommendations

Cura called Lim “snobbish” and unfit for the job.

Cura said that since Lim took over the department, he had yet to meet and consult with the Tourism Congress, which was created by the Tourism Act of 2009 as a vehicle for consultation with the DoT.

“Secretary Lim is officially mandated to consult with the Tourism Congress in developing and implementing tourism policies but in all this entire year, not once since he became secretary [did he confer with us],” Cura said.

The group has submitted “well-meaning” recommendations to the tourism secretary but he disregarded these, according to Cura.

Among the many urgent concerns it listed in its recommendations were the need for infrastructure development in tourist destinations in the country, the need to address the problem of the downgraded status of the country’s airports and to aggressively promote medical tourism.

Lim, who is currently out of the country, earlier acknowledged grumblings among the tourism group stemming from the unresolved question of its legitimacy and his decision to remove 13 of its nominees, in line with Mr. Aquino’s Executive Order No. 2.

But Cura said that while the issue had yet to be resolved in court, Lim already made his judgment by marginalizing and observing an “arm’s length relationship” with the group.

Cura called on Mr. Aquino to immediately replace Lim with somebody “truly competent and effective and able to rally and unify the tourism industry.”

Bad news part of job

In an interview, Llamas said Mr. Aquino had given no hint he was being reassigned.

“It is the job of political affairs to be the messenger of bad tidings, to keep the ear of the President to the ground,” Llamas said.

“It’s a good thing we’re no longer in the Middle Ages because those who bring bad news to the king during the Middle Ages were beheaded,” he added in jest.

Llamas said the political intelligence that his office gives Mr. Aquino necessarily includes bad news.

“We’re together almost every other day and he hasn’t said anything (about a change in the post),” Llamas said. “Actually, our tasks have even increased.”

No sign of reshuffle

Mr. Aquino last week said two or three Cabinet members were giving him problems instead of solutions. The other day, he said he would give one of them another assignment if he and the official could not reach an understanding after one more meeting.

A Malacañang source on Thursday told the Inquirer that Mr. Aquino was referring to Lim, Llamas and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles as the officials who give him bad news about their departments without offering solutions.

In a statement, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., said he didn’t see any movement in the Cabinet even after Mr. Aquino had expressed his frustration over some officials.

“I don’t see that happening,” Ochoa said of a Cabinet reshuffle.

‘No one is packing’

Referring to Mr. Aquino’s supposed problems with some officials, Ochoa said: “So as far as I am concerned, there’s nothing personal there on the part of the President. It’s all about work and there was no malice intended.”

In a news briefing, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said no one among the Cabinet members appeared to be troubled by the news that one of them might be removed from his or her current post.

“I saw Secretary Ronald (on Thursday) and I didn’t get the impression that he was packing,” Valte said of Llamas.

She added: “I know (Deles) is deeply involved in the workings of the peace process… (The Cabinet secretaries) are okay. There was an economic managers’ meeting on Wednesday and I didn’t see any change in their moods.”

“If you’re looking for the sign that somebody is depressed, I didn’t notice anything of that sort. But again that’s just me. That is based on my interactions with them,” Valte said.