DIGOS CITY—Presidential candidate Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte and his running mate, Alan Peter Cayetano, are pushing for the creation of more tourism estates in Cebu to make the province a tourism gateway to central and southern parts of the country.
Cayetano said he and Duterte agreed that the creation of more tourism estates in the region would bring more jobs.
He cited Mactan as an example, which he said, is “known for its successful industrial ventures and high-class tourism industry.”
Cayetano said the transfer to Cebu of the central office of the Department of Tourism (DOT) should also be expected under a Duterte presidency to “decongest Manila and to spur economic activities and government funding into other parts of the country.”
“This is aligned with Mayor Duterte’s call for federalism,” said Cayetano.
Duterte said as a job-creating measure, he would push for the creation of what he described as “business islands” to entice more investors to the country.
Duterte said one way of creating these business islands is to lease them to possible investors. He said he sees nothing wrong in leasing some of the country’s islands to investors because it does not violate the Philippines’ territorial integrity.
He said the government would still have full jurisdiction over these islands. Eldie Aguirre, Inquirer Mindanao