Making Leyte a tourist destination

The provincial governor worth watching "and emulating" is Remedios L. Petilla of Leyte. She exudes the image of a hardworking, dedicated civil servant whose obsession is to make her province a tourist destination, and whose after working hours activity is going to the barangays to talk to the people and find out what their needs are, and handing over to them directly the money they need for their projects. I think very few governors – male or female – go out of their way to make themselves part of the lives of their constituents.

Leyte is a first-class province, the largest of the six provinces in the Eastern Visayas region. It has a total land area of 5,172.80 square kilometers, and a population of 1.5 million. Its annual budget is a mere P600-million from the Internal Revenue Allocation and P50-million from realty tax collections. Its major income comes from coconut oil, but this has been drastically reduced on account of low coconut oil prices. It has shares for royalty from the PNOC for its municipality, Tongonon being the site of a geothermal power plant, but these are a mere P3-million a year.

But Governor Petilla's reputation as a no-nonsense, hard-working local executive has helped project a good image for the province, so there's the likelihood that much-needed investments will be on the way.

Under Governor Petilla's administration, the province was judged most outstanding province in the whole country during the 1998 centennial celebration; it has the most outstanding local government unit in day-care services, local health board, and youth organization. It is a recipient of the gold medal for the most outstanding LGU in livelihood management, and a special awardee of the Presidential Assistant on Community Development. It is a hall-of-fame awardee as having the best destination showcase, most outstanding local government unit in population management, and judged the most statistically-developed province.

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Mrs. Petilla has high hopes of the province becoming a tourist destination. It has good three-star hotels and well-kept smaller hotels, outstanding white beaches, a good climate (it rains for an hour everyday, which explains the lush vegetation in the countryside and in Tacloban city, site of the provincial capitol), gentle people, too. A tourist destination it is on Oct. 19-21, when the province celebrates the Leyte Gulf landing of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Palo, a few kilometers away from Tacloban. During these three days, the town turned festive; the flower-laying is a colorful ritual in front of the massive statues of the returning general, President Sergio Osmeña, and Gen. Carlos P. Romulo in the Palo town plaza. There was a parade and lunch attended by ambassadors of foreign countries. The other day, American Ambassador Richard Riccardione visited the geothermal plant, and Canadian Ambassador Robert Collete met the local women NGO which the Canadian International Development Agency supported for its program on sustainable development and reproductive health. Chinese investors who attended the commemorative rites also visited the geothermal plant, and the governor thinks they will be interested in investing in Tacloban city‚s foreshore reclamation project. The foreign dignitaries expressed admiration for the governor‚s vision and industry, as well as her pleasant personality.

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Remedios, or "Matin", which is how her close friends and constituents call her, was born and married into a political family. Her father, Anastacio Loreto, was a lawyer who served as provincial fiscal of Agusan in Mindanao. Her mother, Juanita Veloso Loreto , served as vice-mayor of Baybay; her mother‚s brother Domingo Veloso served as congressman. Remedios‚ brother, Eriberto, also served as Baybay mayor before he became and served as congressman for three terms. Eriberto's daugher, Loreto Go, has also served as House representative. Another brother of Remedios, Jose, served as Baybay mayor and provincial board member. A sister, Carmen Cari, served as mayor for three terms, and now sits as representative of the province‚s Fifth District in Congress. Carmen‚s son, Jose Carlos Loreto Cari, is the present town mayor.

Remedios' husband, Leopoldo E. Petilla, a lawyer, served as vice-governor and governor. Because of a heart condition, Leopoldo did not run in the 1995 election; by this time, Remedios, an AB graduate majoring in English, who had served as her brother Eriberto‚s chief of legislative staff, was now more than grounded in the art and science of politics and public service. She ran for governor and won, ran and won a second time, and on her third time, won overwhelmingly over her opponents.

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Remedios may be charged with belonging to a political dynasty, but she is dedicated to the idea of effective public service. She says her secret for winning the hearts of constituents is her visiting the barangays everyday, after office hours. "Visiting them empowers them," she says. "I ask the people what they need, and I give the money to the barangay captains directly." From the consultations, a sports facility was built which serves as a multi-purpose hall and a solar dryer; barangays put up day care centers for toddlers‚ feeding and preparing them mentally for Grade I, and a money lending scheme established wherein borrowers are loaned P5,000 for livelihood projects. "The results are amazing," the governor says. "People pay back their loans 100 per cent." Another result is that they feel a closeness with her they want her to stay in public office.

Remedios wants that, too. She will run as representative for the first district in the House of Representatives in 2004.

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My e-mail address: <[email protected]>