MANKAYAN, Benguet – The municipal government remains bullish on the put up of government operated rest and recreation facilities to maximize the potentials of the municipality as one of the preferred areas to spend a break considering its strategic location which is between various premier tourist destinations in the Cordillera.
Mayor Fernzel Ayong claimed that there are a number of financial lending institutions that have already signified their willingness to provide the required funds to support the local government’s plan to put up its own accommodation facilities and a convention center that will entice government and private sectors to hold their gatherings in the locality.
He said that numerous local officials from the different parts of the Cordillera and Ilocos regions already approached him to inquire on the presence of sufficient accommodation facilities and convention halls that could accommodate both large and small gatherings considering that the municipality is suitable in hosting such gatherings thereby helping spur economic activities of people in the municipality.
“We have to be aggressive in pursuing one of our major plans to put up our own accommodation facilities and convention center so that the local government will be able to bid for the hosting of numerous events of both the government and private sectors considering the interest shown by various local officials from other parts of the Cordillera and Ilocos regions in holding their seminars and conferences in the municipality,” Ayong stressed.
The local chief executive revealed that foreign and local tourists from Baguio city who want to visit other scenic tourist destinations in Sagada, Mountain Province and Banaue, Ifugao could drop by Mankayan town and spend a night or two once the said accommodation facilities will be available which would mean the indirect promotion of the different tourist spots in the municipality.
Further, Mankayan is strategically situated between the upland municipalities of Buguias, Benguet, Tadian and Bauko, Mountain Province and that of the lowland towns of Cevantes and Quirino, Ilocos Sur, thus, the town is readily accessible thereby making it suitable for rest and recreation purposes.
According to him, the planned put up of accommodation facilities and a convention center in the municipality will be rolled out anytime when details of the loan agreement will be spelled out by the financial lending institutions offering the same among other established government procedures and processes.
Ayong explained that venturing into other sustainable sources of income for the local government is one of the priorities of his administration to prepare the municipality on the challenges that will be forthcoming once the large-scale mining companies currently operating in the town will cease to exist or will end their prescribed mine life so that there will be alternative sources of income that will cover the lost income from mining in the future.
Mankayan is one of the five first-class town and one of the three local governments relying on mining as their primary sources of income which is being plowed back to the people through the implementation of development projects and improved delivery of basic services.
By HENT