DAVAO-BASED fashion designer Maria Margarita “Marga” Montemayor Nograles has been appointed to lead the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), the marketing arm of the Department of Tourism (DOT).
According to a letter signed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on September 15, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror, Nograles was “appointed acting chief operating officer [COO] and member, board of directors,” of the TPB, vice Maria Anthonette Velasco Allones. The former TPB COO is now an undersecretary of the Department of Migrant Workers.
Nograles declined to comment about her appointment pending her official election as COO by the TPB Board, and her taking of her oath of office. But most stakeholders in the tourism industry readily accept any acting COO appointment issued by Malacañang, taking the election as a mere formality.
Under Republic Act 9593 (Tourism Act of 2009), the TPB board has to confirm the appointment of Nograles as COO by electing her into office. Many of the board directors are still on holdover capacity, however, although an initial set of nominees for the new board have already been submitted to the DOT for endorsement to the Governance Commission for Government-owned and -controlled Corporations (GCG).
Support from stakeholders
The appointment of a TPB chief has been highly anticipated by tourism stakeholders as the government owned and controlled corporation functions like an alter-ego of the DOT, currently headed by newly confirmed Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco.
For its part, the Tourism Congress of the Philippines (TCP) praised Nograles’s appointment. In a statement, TCP President Jose C. Clemente said, “We welcome the appointment of acting COO Marga M. Nograles to the Tourism Promotions Board. We assure her the full support of the Tourism Congress of the Philippines and the tourism stakeholders. We look forward to working with her and continuing our strong partnership with the TPB, as we push the revitalization of the tourism industry.”
A graduate of the Ateneo de Davao University, Nograles is the founder of Kaayo Modern Mindanao, a line of clothing using traditional weaves and patches made by Mindanao tribes. Her spouse is lawyer Karlo Alexei B. Nograles, former Cabinet Secretary under the Duterte administration and current chair of the Civil Service Commission. Her mother, Mary Ann “Baby” Montemayor, has long been involved in the Davao tourism industry, being a hotelier and restaurateur.
Tourist receipts in 2023 down by 29%
Nograles will have a one-year term from the time she is formally elected as TPB COO, and will have to be reappointed by the President every year.
With a board composed primarily of private tourism stakeholders nominated by the TCP, the TPB implements a marketing campaign based on the priorities outlined by the DOT in the National Tourism Development Plan.
Under the National Expenditures Program for 2023, the TPB will receive P1.17 billion in the form of automatic appropriations from the national government. The TPB is targeting to attract 7 million tourist arrivals in 2023, the same as in 2021 and 2022.
The TPB its also targetting tourist receipts at P933 million in 2023, down by 29 percent from its target of some P1.32 billion this year. (See, “Tourism Promotions Board gets P1.17B to market PHL,” in the BusinessMirror, September 5, 2022.)