A Bohol provincial board member has said that criticism of the province’s tourism industry should be accepted constructively, questioning provisions in a new tourism code that may penalize negative commentary.
Board member Benjie Arcamo told DYTR program “Newsmakers ug Uban Pa” that penalizing critics of Bohol tourism would be unjust, provided the criticism is not personal in nature.
“People should be free to air their opinions if these criticisms are to make the government better or for the benefit of the people,” Arcamo said.
His comments came after a local newspaper reported that Bohol’s new sustainable tourism development code would penalize those spreading fake news against the province’s tourism sector.
Board member Jamie Villamor-Tan, who authored the code, denied that characterization and said the newspaper misrepresented the measure.
Arcamo cited legal problems about the code’s enforceability, noting it contains penal provisions but has not been published.
“The new code will not be effective unless it is published because of the penal provisions, otherwise, it will violate due process,” he said.
He questioned whether the code’s provisions on negative publicity would withstand legal scrutiny, saying subjective remarks cannot be prosecuted.
Arcamo also suggested the tourism code’s penalties might duplicate existing cyber libel laws.
“I doubt if there will be prosecutions using the provision in the tourism code,” he said, adding that Philippine libel law already covers comments made with malice.
Tourism Law
The Philippines’ tourism industry is governed primarily by Republic Act 9593, or the Tourism Act of 2009, which created the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority and established policies to enhance the country’s competitiveness as a tourist destination.
Provincial and municipal governments can enact local tourism codes under the Local Government Code of 1991 (Republic Act 7160), which grants local governments authority to regulate tourism activities within their jurisdictions.
Any municipal and provincial ordinance with penal provisions must be published, if it is not against the Constitution, in accordance with Philippine law to satisfy due process requirements before penalties can be imposed.