PB urges Cebuanos: Patronize local business

CEBU, Philippines —  To help the ailing businesses due to the pandemic, the Cebu Provincial Board has called on the public to patronize tourism activities and local businesses in the province.

The PB, in a resolution sponsored by Board Member Glenn Anthony Soco, also called on all local government units and to relevant national agencies to intensify programs to aid the economy, especially the tourism sector.

In the past 10 months, Soco said, many workers lost their jobs as more establishments folded up or were forced to reduce their workforce following lockdowns.

“Our ailing economy has already brought about some business closures and aggressive cost reduction measures of some enterprises.  The most notable of which was the closure of Shangri-la Makati,” said Soco who chairs the PB Committee on Commerce and Industry.

The Hotels and Restaurants Association of Cebu has also been calling for help from the LGUs.

HRACC vice-president Alfred Reyes saw the closure of the iconic Shangri-la hotel as a precedent for other hotels, calling it “alarming.”

With the report of a new COVID variant, Soco said it has again brought uncertainty and fear among the business and tourism sectors, and the public.

This, he said, may affect further the ailing economy.

“Our gains that we have had since we started to re-open have been lost just by these scenarios.  Travel restrictions have again tightened due to the scare,” he said.

“The bigger problem is poverty, and poverty in itself is like a virus, which has never been cured and now has even further worsened because of this pandemic,” he added.

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia earlier said the province is now focusing on reviving the economy through, for instance, the reopening of tourist destinations. — KQD (FREEMAN)