Noy delayed acting on graft case vs TIEZA chief over political considerations - Lim

MANILA, Philippines - Outgoing Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim disclosed yesterday that President Aquino delayed action on the complaint against Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Authority (TIEZA) chief Mark Lapid over “political” considerations.

Lim, who recently resigned for personal reasons, said the Commission on Audit (COA) uncovered several questionable transactions at the Department of Tourism, including a report against TIEZA chief operating officer Lapid, son of Sen. Lito Lapid.

Lim whose resignation takes effect on Aug. 31, said he informed Aquino about COA findings indicating questionable dealings at TIEZA, formerly known as the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA), but the President delayed taking action.

“What he did say was there are other considerations, bigger political considerations and to time it properly. I understand. There’s much bigger fish to catch,” said Lim.

Aquino was reportedly referring to Malacañang’s effort to get the support of Sen. Lapid for the passage of a resolution to postpone the scheduled Aug. 8 elections for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The TIEZA chief’s father, Sen. Lapid, was one of the 13 senators who voted in favor of postponing the ARMM polls.

The STAR tried to contact the younger Lapid to get his reaction on Lim’s accusation against him, but his staff at the TIEZA office said that their chief would issue the necessary comment in due time.

Aside from the irregularities at TIEZA, Lim disclosed that COA had also uncovered several other questionable transactions at the tourism department.

Lim said the irregularities were among the reasons why he is pushing for the appointment of new officials at TIEZA.

Since TIEZA has a new mandate under the newly enacted Tourism Act of 2009, Lim said it would be much better if new officials would take over the agency.

“There’s a new mandate. It’s no longer infrastructure but investments, incentives. (We need) someone who understands tourism estate development. It needs new blood. The whole agency needs new blood,” he said in an interview over ANC.

Lim, however, denied that the President’s inaction on Lapid’s case triggered his resignation.

The younger Lapid replaced former tourism secretary Joseph Ace Durano as general manager of the PTA in June 2008. Lapid was later elected as TIEZA chief operating officer on Feb. 22, 2010, which tenure lasts until 2014.

When Lim assumed as tourism secretary last year, he initiated efforts to amend the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Tourism Act and moved for the replacement of the officials elected in the department’s attached agencies created under the newly enacted law.

Lim also pushed for the implementation of open skies policy on international airliners that apparently earned the ire of some stakeholders in the tourism industry.

He said that the open skies policy would help increase foreign tourist arrivals and that he even informed the President that those against his initiatives were just “noisy but few” members of the tourism industry.

Lim said that even before he assumed post, the tourism industry was already fragmented.

“The Tourism Congress was meant to unify the tourism industry, but many also felt that it was illegitimate,” Lim said while noting that small members were not represented in the congress.