Lapid's son visits Cebu for "tourism purposes"

CEBU, Philippines - Former Pampanga governor and current general manager of the Philippine Tourism Authority Mark Lapid yesterday paid Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia a visit but clarified that his presence in Cebu is related to his job in the tourism sector and not on the reelection bid of his father to the Senate.

Lapid said that he discussed with Garcia the construction of the PTA office in Mandaue City, in front of the present Mandaue City Hospital.

He said that the office already has a budget but they need to wait for the Local Government Unit to construct the other office that would be in the same place which is stated in the Memorandum of Agreement that they signed.

Lapid said that they chose to have their office in the said area since it makes their plan of a compression chamber ideal being in front of the city’s hospital. A compression chamber was formerly located in Camp Lapu-Lapu.

Lapid said that he also discussed with the governor issues faced by certain areas in Cebu which they plan to develop that would be viable in contributing to the tourism sector.

He said that there are certain areas that have issues that they want to iron out first and concerns that the national level would like to discuss with the local and municipal level first before they proceed with plans which would be for the tourism industry.

Lapid said that they would be developing the areas and would not be selling it, however is open for possible investors.

He explained though that these potential investors would go through a long process to convince the PTA board and the local government if their project would bring benefits not only for tourism but for the whole province in general. – AJ de la Torre/MEEV

   (FREEMAN NEWS)