Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Odds and Ends 1/26/10

Read the whole thing...

Marlene Aguilar to seek Hillary Clinton's help?

Grabe.

Makati councilors’ feud delays tax ordinance

Mas grabe.

Villar allies, critics face off on C-5 deal

Mas lalung grabe.
/
Haay...

4 comments:

Jules Rivera said...

Grabe nga... Lord, please bless our country.

WillyJ said...

At the rate it goes on, we need to storm heaven with those prayers.

Anonymous said...

Hi Willy,
Here's something along the same lines. In the last 10 years, the DOT office in Frankfurt has been doing an excellent job in fostering tourism to the Philippines. Because of their work, the French TV filmed their version of Survivor in Palawan. DOT as done such a good job that the most respected newpaper in Germany - the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung did a very flattering multi-page review of the Philippines two years ago.

Tourism is one of our foremost sources of foreign exchange, bringing in billions every year.

Now all these news about scandals and the massacre in Maguindanao have not helped. Not only do they scare tourists away, they set back the work that DOT and the diplomatic corps have done. Trust from visitors are earned through hard work but are easily lost by officials back home who do not seem to realize that the whole world is watching us.

To top it all, I've heard that they've cut down on DOT's budget, reducing further DOT's effectiveness abroad. So far, the Philippines have backed out of 2 tourism fairs this year.

And all the while Villar is getting 5 times more per sqm for a right-of-way that's not even needed.

- TE

WillyJ said...

TE,

Talagang grabe.

Reports say we earned 5B USD in 2007 tourism revenues. Not bad, until we realize that is a far cry from the capability. Thailand earned 16B USD for the same period although I can't see how we pale in comparison with Thailand in terms of Tourist spots. It's simply a case of throwing away the opportunity. What you mentioned are good examples of how to go about it.

The Villar C5 issue has been hogging the headlines recently. Curiously, Villar's ratings has caught up with Noynoy's at the same time. The latest Pulse Asia survey even put Villar slightly ahead. Winnie Monsod's opinion column indicts Villar on those key points, but Villar seems to have a defensible position here and here.