TUBA, Benguet – The municipal government criticized the proposed partnership between the Baguio City government and the Ilocos Region provinces for the establishment of a tourism corridor as part of the cautious, slow and safe efforts to revive the economy in the said areas, saying that consultations should have first been done with the city’s neighboring local governments for the implementation of the prescribed health and safety protocols.
Mayor Clarita Sal-ongan stated that municipal and barangay officials in the municipality were disappointed to learn through social media of the plans of the Baguio city government to strike an agreement with local officials of Ilocos Region provinces for the gradual opening of the tourism industry in Northern Luzon.
She pointed out that Tuba officials are not totally against the opening of the tourism industry because it will help in reviving the local economy but there should have been coordination between city officials and the tourism industry stakeholders with their neighboring local governments pursuant to the concept of the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT).
Sal-ongan claimed that once the tourism industry of Baguio will be opened, the border checkpoints in the different entry and exit points of the municipality will surely be overwhelmed by the surge in the number of motorists who will be passing through.
Aside from the town’s border control points, the municipal chief executive added that even their existing health care system primarily to serve their constituents might be compromised thus there should first be consultations and coordination’s with concerned local officials of neighboring local governments before deciding to open the city’s tourism industry.
According to her, the different local governments surrounding Baguio and even the provincial government were not properly informed of the decision of the city government and tourism industry stakeholders to open the city’s tourism industry so that they will be able to prepare for whatever eventualities that will transpire and to ensure that the surge in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases will not happen apart from ensuring that appropriate safety and mitigating measures will be put in place before the planned easing of the tourism-related businesses.
She asserted that officials of local governments surrounding Baguio deserve to be respected by their fellow local officials from other places if they want them to return the same treatment but it seems with the proposed re-opening of the city’s tourism industry they had been set aside despite playing host to the major roads leading to the city.
Sal-ongan claimed if there was earlier coordination, then even the tourism establishment operators in the municipality should have been included in the proposed re-opening of the city’s tourism industry because of the presence of tourist destinations that are also being frequented by visitors from the different parts of the country.
Tuba plays host to the Asin Hot Springs, the Mount Sto. Tomas mountain range, Aran Cave, Klondykes Hot Spring along Kennon Road among other nature destinations that have attracted the influx of foreign and domestic visitors in the past.
By Hent