‘Put murals of tourist spots on city vehicles’

Cebu City barangay officials were told to replace the posters featuring local officials in barangay- and city-owned vehicles with posters and murals of the city’s tourist attractions and their respective barangays.

“This is a very effective way of promoting whatever they have in their barangays and the city as a whole since many people would be aware of their respective identifiers and prides,” Cebu City Councilor Michael Rallota said.

Rallota, president of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC), said he will pitch his proposal to the city’s barangay captains. “We’ve had enough of the faces of our leaders so I guess it’s time to change it and replace it with something like this,” he said.

Rallota said the City Council plans to develop eco-tourism in the city’s mountain barangays. “Like in barangay Tabunan which is blessed with very attractive waterfalls. They can post that in all of their vehicles and people could see it,” Rallota said.

Cebu City Councilor Margot Osmeña, who chairs the council’s tourism committee, backed Rallota’s proposal.

“But there are some city barangays that aren’t blessed with tourism attractions, we may just ask them to post any unique identifiers of their barangays such as indigenous plants or other stuffs unique to their barangays.” Osmeña told Cebu Daily News.

Padilla, who is also barangay captain of Barangay T. Padilla, said he will highlight their public market which will soon be renovated to make it more eco-friendly.
“The market will promote the use of bayong or stringed baskets instead of plastic. We will also make sure that we won’t sell dynamited fish and sell only vegetables grown with organic fertilizers,” he said.

Regional Director Pedro Noval of the Department of Interior and Local Government in Central Visayas (DILG-7) said the proposal should be copied by other cities, towns and provinces in the region.

“It’s hitting two birds with one stone. Aside from promoting tourism in Cebu City, it is also in line with the circular issued by Interior Secretary Jessie Robredo to remove the faces of politicians in the vehicles owned by the government,” Noval said./Correspondent Edison A. delos Angeles