DOT: Proposed trip to Iceland, Norway part of legitimate program

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 12 p.m. on Feb. 20, 2020)— The Department of Tourism has defended a proposed trip by its officials to Iceland and Norway, saying it is part of a legitimate program.

“This is to clarify that the proposed travel to Iceland and Norway is a legitimate program which is in compliance with the requirements of R.A. 9593 and R.A. 7192 otherwise known as Gender Awareness Development (GAD), and is done in coordination with the House of Representatives,” Tourism Assistant Secretary Frederick “Ricky” Alegre said in an official statement released Tuesday evening.

The statement was issued in response to a report by The STAR that four lawmakers and four employees of the House of Representatives secretariat as well as five officials of the Tourism department are set to leave on a junket to Iceland and Norway on July 14 to 22. 

The trip is supposedly to observe the two countries’ best practices on gender equality.

READ: DOT, House members going on Norway, Iceland junket

The report identified the lawmakers as Compostela Valley Rep. Ma. Carmen Zamora of Compostela Valley, Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta party-list Rep. Mark Aeron Sambar, Antique Rep. Paolo Everardo Javier and Iloilo Rep. Oscar Richard Garin Jr.

The report also identified the House secretariat employees joining the trip are Cecilia de Sahagun, Julieta Apostol, Liza Mijares and Jocelyn Lim.

House secretary-general Cesar Strait Pareja confirmed that the four are members of the House secretariat.

The STAR cited a document that three DOT officials are set to fly to Iceland and Norway along with four employees of the House secretariat and four lawmakers. The trip is estimated to cost P2,156,686 for 13 international economy-class airline tickets for Manila-Iceland-Norway-Manila.

The DOT however denied that there has been a travel booking made for Teo, her staff and the members of the House of Representatives and its employees.

“Contrary to a Philippine Star report (11 July 2017), Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo is not one of the intended participants in the bench-marking activity in leading countries to enlighten us to formulate and implement policies that will empower women and promote gender equality,” Alegre said.

“No airline booking has been made either for Secretary Teo or for any member of her staff. Neither the four House representatives, along with four House secretariat employees, have been booked for the proposed GAD activity,” it clarified.

Alegre, who is not part of the eight-day trip, earlier cleared DOT from the alleged junket in the same report. He also did not mention the role of the DOT officials in the proposed trip.

(Erratum: The update made on Feb. 20, 2020 corrects a detail in the earlier version of this story when a dispute on it was brought to our attention.

The sentence "The names of the lawmakers were confirmed by House Secretary-General Cesar Strait Pareja, according to the report" has been changed to "House secretary-general Cesar Strait Pareja confirmed that the four are members of the House secretariat.". 

The earlier The STAR report cited Pareja as confirming that four of the names mentioned were members of the House secretariat.

We apologize for the error.)