PB Sitoy seeks amendments to Suroy-Suroy Ordinance

CEBU, Philippines - Provincial Board Member Arleigh Jay Sitoy has sought amendments of the provincial ordinance institutionalizing the Suroy-Suroy Sugbo program of the Province of Cebu.

Provincial Ordinance 2012-12 sponsored by Sitoy was passed by PB last September 24, 2012 and approved by then governor and now third district Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia on October 30, 2012.

In a public hearing yesterday on the proposed amendments, Sitoy said that he has been receiving inputs from stakeholders to further improve the tourism program of the provincial government. 

Patria Aurora Roa, consultant on tourism of the office of Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, said that there were changes that have already been taken place in the last two tour caravans this year.

These include lesser destinations but longer leisure time for the participants and lesser expenses on the part of the local government units concerned.

Other amendment is the additional membership in the Suroy-Suroy Sugbo Commission which include the Balik Cebu Core Group; the Hotels, Resorts, and Restaurants Association of Cebu (HRRAC) and the National Association of Independent Agencies (NAITAS).

The original version, the embodying resolution has acknowledged Garcia who conceived the program in 2004 together with the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

But in the proposed amendments, it was the Balik Cebu Core Group conceived and launched the program as part of the CCCI’s Cebu Business Month celebration in 2005 and which was later adopted by Garcia as a provincial tourism project.

Tetta Baad, chairman of the Balik Cebu committee of the Cebu City Tourism Commission, confirmed she brought up the idea when she was tourism chairperson of CCCI’s CBM during the year.—(FREEMAN)