Cong. Edgar Chatto, who this week was appointed as vice chairperson of the House Committee on Tourism, identified important elements of sustainable tourism when asked to weigh in on the Virgin Island food tour experience that went viral as he emphasized the need to harmonize policies.
“What is important is to harmonize policies of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) with the provincial and local government policies,” he stated in a radio interview over Newsmakers ug Uban Pa on Aug, 5, 2022 hosted by Ardy Araneta-Batoy, pointing out that sustainable tourism is a balance of price, product, people, and promotion.
Chatto commended the swift response of Panglao Mayor Edgardo “Boy” Arcay whom he called immediately after finding out about the viral post about the alleged exorbitant prices of food recently sold at the stalls located at Virgin Island.
Chatto advised Arcay to make use of the incident as a wake up call to review policies in coordination with the DENR, the Provincial Government, particularly with the Governor’s Office, the Bohol Tourism Office and the Bohol Provincial Environment and Management Office to seek a policy solution to issues such as what happened at the Virgin Island.
He underscored that the selling of food at the regulated seascape is only one aspect of the issue.
“This touches on livelihood, environmental protection, and even health and sanitation,” Chatto explained, stressing the need for dialogue, policy review, and implementation of existing laws.
Chatto is confident that with coordination meetings and an upcoming discussions with the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), the concern can be resolved in consideration both of the livelihood of vendors as well as of tourism stakeholders.
Meanwhile, aside from the tourism panel, Chatto also holds memberships in the Committees on Science and Technology, Information and Communication Technology, Appropriations, Higher and Technical Education, and Public Works and Highways.
Earlier, Chatto retained the chairmanship of the Climate Change committee at the House of Representatives in the 19th Congress
CHATTO WORKS TO BRING A DFA OFFICE IN BOHOL
In another development, Cong. Chatto revealed that he already made representations to the new foreign affairs secretary to solicit support for the establishment of a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) consular office in Bohol.
Chatto bared his move during a radio interview over Newsmakers ug Uban Pa aired on Aug. 5, 2022, hosted by Ardy Araneta-Batoy.
The solon gave the statement following a query from a listener asking about the status of the establishment of a DFA consular office for passport processing purposes.
Chatto said he already communicated with DFA secretary Enrique Manalo about the possible establishment of a DFA consular office here.
“Paglingkod sa bag-ong secretary, nagpada dayon ko ug communication sa iyang [Manalo’s] opisina, unya nag remind ko niya mahitungod sa resolution sa House of Representatives. Unya nag remind sad ko nga maybe in 2023 adunay budget para sa DFA office sa lalawigan sa Bohol, taking into consideration they [DFA] need supply of power, water, personnel para maong opisina,” Chatto said.
The solon quipped that in the 18th Congress a resolution was passed providing support for the establishment of a DFA consular office.
He even said that a private enterprise is willing to provide free space to the DFA so that the national agency can set up shop immediately.
Despite Bohol having a huge number of overseas Filipino workers (OFW), the province does not have any consular office where folks can apply for a new or renew expired passports.
People from Bohol either visit Cebu or Dumaguete City to have their passport applications or renewals processed.
In so doing, Boholanos entail additional expenses such as the fare for the ferry and food expenses.