‘Tutulungan siya ng Albay’: SALCEDA HINDI SASALI SA PANAWAGANG FRASCO RESIGN

HINDI sasama si House Ways and Means Chair at Albay 2^nd District Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda sa panawagan na magbitiw si Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco.

“I asked her to fire the consultant. She did. I asked her to correct mistakes and investigate internally. She did. I asked her to be more inclusive with destinations featured. She did. When we resume session in Congress, we will seek facts. She is open. We can disagree without malice,” ayon kay Salceda.

“I will criticize openly, as needed. That’s my job as a legislator and a representative of my people. But after heated discussions, we must remain focus on solving problems.”

“And once the controversy about this rebranding effort passes, we will still need to fix our airports, our accommodations, our accessibility. So, no, I will not join calls for her to resign. Certainly not when a lot of it is premised on speculation. I focused on facts in my criticisms. I want to focus on facts on the solutions.”

Sa isang pang panayam sinabi rin ni Salceda na tutulungan niya si Frasco.

“I am asking everyone to help her. I would like to summon the collective intellect, energy, and innovativeness of the brightest minds in advertising and promotions to help the DOT.”

“Albay will help her. I offer to her my personal experience as former Governor of Albay, when we grew foreign tourist arrivals by 4,700 percent, and became the country’s rising tourism star. Albay has 1.32 tourists per resident, pre-pandemic, higher than the 0.57 per resident number nationally. It’s one of the best – if not the best, pound-for-pound,” dagdag ni Salceda.

Si Salceda ay isang highly-commended governor na nabigyan ng unang Tourism Star award ng Department of Tourism noong 2015 dahil sa kanyang pagsusumikap para ang Albay ay maging nangungunang tourist destination.  Pinagkalooban din si Salceda kamakailan lang ng Special Grand Tourism Award ng Manila Overseas Press Club.

“I also want to work with her on the Bicol International Airport, and other issues. Let’s move forward.”