BUSINESS AS USUAL IN PUERTO GALERA – DOT CHIEF FRASCO

DEPARTMENT of Tourism (DoT) Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said that affected frontline tourism workers will be subjected to capacity building and skills training programs in a bid to prepare and provide them with alternative sources of livelihood, following the oil spill incident in Mindoro.

"At this point, it's really about ensuring that our tourism frontline workers that for loss of work for a few days or weeks because of the oil spill, we are able to provide them with alternative sources of livelihood and that is why we will be providing trainings to them, not just specifically focused on their present work but to alternative types of work," the tourism chief said during her television guesting at Teleradyo's morning show "Sakto" on March 287.

The training, she added, will be conducted by DoT regional offices.

Frasco also shared that she has already directed the regional offices in Mimaropa and Western Visayas to consolidate all of the names of the affected tourism workers and have them endorsed to the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) to avail of the assistance under the Tulong PanghanapBuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers program.

Earlier, the municipal government of Puerto Galera has clarified that the area remains negative of the oil spill effects, thus, the tourism chief said that the tourist destination remains 100 percent open for tourism.

"We invite our fellow Filipinos to patronize Puerto Galera because they continue with their tourism offerings, while at the same time, we will continue to give whatever assistance that we can do to the areas that have been affected," she said.

Cities and municipalities confirmed affected by the oil spill from the sunken MT Princess Empress off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro include Batangas City; several towns and Calapan City in Oriental Mindoro; Agutaya and Taytay in Palawan; and Caluya in Antique.

2023-04-01T22:02:09Z dg43tfdfdgfd