BAUKO, Mountain – Mayor Abraham B. Akilit announced the put up of a Peace museum will be an integral part of the rehabilitation of the historic Mount Data hotel to serve as a living testament of the important role that the hotel played in achieving lasting peace in the Cordillera.
The local chief executive underscored the long-overdue rehabilitation of the 22-room Mount Data hotel has long been overdue as over 2 years have passed but no improvements have been done so far in the province’s major lodging facility.
“We have to patiently wait for the decision of the tourism department on the matter. We have been following up the matter but we were told that it will be forthcoming that is why we will keep our fingers crossed that the rehabilitation of the facility will be realized the soonest,” Mayor Akilit stressed.
Previously, the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) took over the management of the Mount Data hotel from the provincial government but it eventually decided to close the operation of the facility to allow its supposed rehabilitation to improve its current condition, however, the same never pushed through to date.
It was in the Mount Data hotel that former President Corazon C. Aquino and the late rebel priest Conrado Balweg of the Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CPLA) signed the famous ‘sipat’ that paved the way for an end to the hostilities between the government and the CPLA.
Mayor Akilit appealed to those who have memorabilia during the said occasion to donate the same for the ‘Peace museum’ as part of the hotel so that they will serve as living testaments of how peace evolved in the Cordillera.
After the planned rehabilitation of the facility, the hotel will be managed by the Mountain Province State Polytechnic College (MPSPC) while the ‘Peace museum’ and other outdoor recreational activities will be managed by the Bauko municipal government if plans will push through as initially agreed upon.
According to him, most of the memorabilia during the said historic event in the Cordillera are now being allegedly lost that is why it is best for those who have still the items to entrust the same to the local government so that it will be placed in the museum once established for various purposes that it may serve.
He claimed that foreign and domestic visitors frequenting the scenic tourist destinations in the province are looking for more lodging facilities for them to spend more days in the province to be able to tour the untapped scenic tourist spots in the different towns.
Akilit explained that what is important is for the planned rehabilitation of the Mount Data hotel to be implemented the soonest before the planning and implementation of whatever projects that will serve as additional amenities in the government-owned property.
Akilit appealed to residents and visitors alike to be patient in awaiting the appropriate actions of the concerned government agencies relative to the long overdue rehabilitation of the premier lodging facility situated at the heat of the province.
By HENT