THE Department of Tourism (DOT) will be turning over P8 billiion-10 billion in funds for use by the national government in its fight to contain the spread of the Corona Virus Disease (Covid-19).
This was disclosed by Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat in an interview with the BusinessMirror. “The Bayanihan Law has freed up about P8-10 billion in funds from Tieza (Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority). We will turn these over to Finance Secretary (Carlos G.) Dominguez.” The DOT chief chairs the Tieza board.
These funds were part of the P14 billion in tourism recovery projects earlier announced by Dominguez as part of the P27-billion economic stimulus package to lift sectors affected by Covid-19. The DOT earlier projected tourism revenue losses to reach some P40 billion from January to March 2020.
Most of the tourism recovery projects, however, had already been allocated even before the Covid-19 outbreak. The DOT received flak for this, as netizens believed more funds should be allocated to purchase Covid-19 test kits, PPEs, and ventilators to help infected patients.
Romulo Puyat explained, however, that her hands were tied as to the use of those funds because under the Tourism Act of 2009, Tieza funds are only allowed to be used specifically for tourism infrastructure projects.
“But I’m happy to note, because of the Bayanihan Law, we are now free to turn over these funds to the DOF (Department of Finance),” she said. “This was approved by the Tieza board in our recent board meeting,” she said.
While the DOF is free to allocate these funds wherever it sees fit, Romulo Puyat said she will “ask that it pay for the stay of our OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) in hotels.” Romulo Puyat was supposed to have raised the matter in the Inter-Agency Task Force Meeting on Monday. She stressed that she is currently looking for some 7,000 rooms in which to book returning OFWs, many of whom who have lost their jobs.
She also reached out to the hotel and accommodations sector, accredited by DOT or otherwise, to “please step up. We are calling on you to help house these returning OFWs, our bagong bayani. It’s better for them (hotels) to be earning a little from these guests, than none at all.”
Most of the OFWs, she explained, are unable to return home to their hometowns and provinces due to the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon announced on March 17, as well as in the respective lockdowns of many provinces in the country. “So we have to keep them here, make sure they have a place to stay and food to eat,” she said.
Romulo Puyat said the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration will pay for the meals of the stranded OFWs with a budget of about P500 per day. She noted that her friends in the food and restaurants sectors are already organizing so they can supply meals for these OFWs at least cost to the government.
The DOT chief, an economist, said if the Covid-19 crisis continues, she expects more OFWs will be cut from their jobs. “This could reach maybe 15,000,” Romulo Puyat estimated. As per a list from the DOT, there are 133 hotels in Luzon allowed to operate with 10,524 in-house guests as of March 25, 2020. (See, “133 Luzon hotels host aliens, OFWs, medical frontliners,” in the BusinessMirror, March 30, 2020.)
The funds of Tieza come from the travel taxes paid by departing passengers at the intermational gateways. Last year, about P6 billion in funds received by Tieza as its share from the travel taxes collected by government.
The Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, or Republic Act 11469, passed by both houses of Congress in marathon sessions on March 23, gives President Duterte emergency powers to reallocate the budget for 2020 and fasttrack efforts to fight Covid-19.