Mayor Osmeña hires new tourism officer

CEBU, Philippines — At least P1.19 billion worth of infrastructure projects from the Department of Tourism will be used to improve, repair, and open some roads leading to the tourist spots in the mountain areas of Cebu City.

Newly appointed Cebu City Tourism Officer Hearty Marie Rizarri said that she shares the same vision with the mayor to prioritize the tourist spots in the mountain areas.

“This is called Tourism Road Infrastructure Prioritization with fund appropriation from the Department of Tourism. The project is worth P1,195,324,000.00. Most of these sites are located in the mountain barangays in Cebu City,” she told The FREEMAN.

Rizarri said her office is still complying with the requirements for the release of the fund to implement the projects.  City Mayor Tomas Osmeña wanted Rizarri to focus on the improvements in the tourism sites in the mountain areas of the city.

On March 12, 2018, the mayor appointed Rizarri to replace Malou Ouano Inocando-Tabar, who is now the current information officer of the city.

"As such, you are hereby mandated to perform the duties and responsibilities of your position and report directly to Hon. Margarita Osmeña, deputy mayor for tourism,” reads portion of the memorandum.

Osmeña said the city government will start from scratch as it cannot rely on the business establishments to work for the tourism program because they only think about themselves.

He said the city will also prioritize the fixing of the city’s roads and the roads leading to the mountain areas.

“So we’re just going to work on other, develop certain sites in the mountains and other activities also just to have a minimum compliance but Cebu City at this point does not need more tourist, were getting too many tourist already, we’re over congested, we’re over hitting,” the mayor said.

He said the city will start working and improving the tourist sites in the mountain areas so that many tourists will be enticed to go there.

“I’m more worried that the kind of quality of tourist coming in will be pang-masa already,” he said.

Rizarri, for her part, said she has not discussed the mayor’s plan for the tourism aspect of the city yet.

“We are planning to have some city tours, we may categorize it as adventure tours, religious pilgrimage tours (since Cebu is the seat of Christianity in Southeast Asia),” she added.

This is her first time to hold the highest position of a tourism office but she was part of the planning activities of the annual Suroy Suroy Sugbo of Cebu Province in the previous years. (FREEMAN)