Tourism workers to get aid, training

CEBU, Philippines — Tourism workers affected by calamities, disasters, and emergencies now have something to look forward to following the partnership forged between the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Financial and training assistance from the DOT and the DSWD will be available soon following the ceremonial signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) through a joint program, Bayanihan sa Bukas na ay Pag-asa sa Turismo.

The M OA signing was done last Thursday with Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco and DWSD Secretary Rex Gatchalian. Undersecretaries Shahlimar Hofer Tamano and Diana Rose Cajipe were also present as witnesses.

DOT said the program allows support to community-based tourism organizations and small tourism business enterprises and give qualified program beneficiaries access to sustainable livelihood programs.

"I'm so grateful to Secretary Rex Gatchalian and to the entire team of the DSWD for the culmination of months of coordination that will benefit thousands of tourism workers across the country," Frasco said during the ceremony held in Pasay City.

"Tourism is such a reliable source of livelihood and a reliable pillar of our economy, that notwithstanding climate-re sated disasters, it can continue to provide a source of employment and income. And what the partnership with the DSWD will do is that it will capacitate the DOT as well to come in and to provide the assistance that's necessary for them to go on with their lives and continue to have sources of livelihood," she added, while also saying that the partnership is just the beginning of more collaborations with the DSWD.

Frasco also emphasized DOT's commitment to uplift the lives of Filipino tourism workers in the country while also capacitating them with skills that ensure tourism as a positive force in their lives.

Gatchalian said he finds the partnership an assurance that the marginalized, and those affected by natural calamities, or those with a greater poverty issue, are directly impacted by the financial capacities of the DSWD.

"Because of the recent disasters that hit the country due to national calamity, and natural and manmade hazards that were further aggravated by the effects of climate chango, it is unfortunate to witness the devastating impacts of calamities in our poor communities. Part of these communities that are directly affected whenever we have disasters are the workers in the tourism center since their families, homes, and properties are not the only ones that are affected, but also their way of life," Gatchalian said. - Caecent No-ot Magsumbol/BRP