TPB names career exec Arnold Gonzales OIC after Cesar Montano’s resignation

Arnold Gonzales, photo taken from his Facebook page

The Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) has chosen its officer in charge on Thursday, just three days after its chief operating officer Cesar Montano resigned.

In a statement, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said career official Arnold T. Gonzales was unanimously chosen as OIC by the TPB board of directors.

TPB is a government-owned corporation attached to DOT. Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat sits as TPB’s chair of the 11-man board, composed of government officials and private industry representatives.

Prior to his designation as TPB OIC, the 56-year-old Gonzales was OIC of Domestic Promotion Department of TPB.

According to DOT, he has been with the DOT and TPB for 30 years, having been assigned at various posts.

Gonzales was not among the three TPB officials endorsed by Montano to be the agency’s OIC on his May 21 memorandum to Puyat.

The resigned TPB COO instead asked the DOT secretary to appoint any of the following: Maricon Ebron, OIC of the Office of Deputy Chief Operating Officer for Marketing and Promotions; Joselito Gregorio, OIC of the Office of the Deputy Chief Operating Officer for Corporate Affairs; and Leah Marie Sy, manager of the Management Information System Department.

Montano submitted his “courtesy resignation” to President Duterte on Monday after TPB sent checks just within a month, amounting to P80 million, to ad agency Marylindbert International for “Buhay Carinderia” project, despite it not being completed yet.

He, however, pointed to resigned Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo for approving the checks, saying Marylindbert’s president and Buhay Carinderia intellectual property owner, Erlinda Legaspi, was Teo’s “friend.”

Puyat suspended all ongoing and pending projects of TPB, pending their review by the Commission on Audit.