Recognition Ceremony of Dumaguete Tourism Sector Responders to COVID-19 Lockdown

i think we're all ready for this really important event one night shall we all rise for a prayer and let us remain standing for the philippine national album [Music] gamma [Music] um [Music] okay [Music] um [Music] my um [Music] uh is [Music] uh [Music] is [Music] let us all be seated hi good afternoon everybody and maybe we can say good afternoon to the people behind you this is a wonderful afternoon hi good afternoon everybody and welcome to this place that will be a witness to this historic event in the life of the city and the life of the industry i'd like to acknowledge your presence our chief executive of the city the mayor himself is here our department heads i'd also like to acknowledge uh people who are representing various media outlets to cover this event and of course you the recipients of the lgu's recognition we welcome you all to the local government of dumaguete's recognition of 29 accommodation establishments transport services and outstanding individuals in the tourism sector who responded to our community needs during the cove 19 lockdown in the year 2020 those were really difficult times and you chose to be kind resolution number one zero three of the dumagati sangguniang pang lung sod recognizes our partners in the tourism sector who best responded to the lgu's call for help in the midst of the coveted lockdown in dumaguete city they exemplify the certitude and the saying that crisis management is best achieved when both the public and the private sectors work honestly together so may i now call on the mayor the honorable felipe antonio viremaglio vice mayor carissa tolentino maxino city councillors and city tourism officer jackie velos antonio to hand out our plaques of recognition to our partners in the tourism industry and a note and that's why this is a very special uh plaque of recognition these wooden plaques are handcrafted by subida souvenirs and made from repurposed wood alright so we now begin and may i read jackie would you like to read the citation thank you mom the local government of dumaguete presents this plaque of appreciation and commendation to our tourism stakeholders for their invaluable assistance and cooperation extended to the city government of dumaguete and its constituents at the height of the covet 19 pandemic through our combined efforts the government and the private sector overcame adversities and challenges in the midst of the global crisis signed felipe antonia b remolio city mayor thank you we will now proceed with our recognition cnl bayview the proprietor is miss casilda d tan and the general manager is mr melvin lordito di diguette the first hotel to open and accommodate locally stranded individuals for quarantine last may 22 2020 received by mr mibin lordito di diguette a big hand please [Applause] c and l sweets in proprietor mr maximal p tan jr general manager mr miben lordito di get the first local hotel to open and accommodate locally stranded individuals in may 29 2020 and mr diggett will accept the plaque [Applause] grand pension house proprietor engineer jay sita general manager miss katrina marie tiang the second local hotel to open and accommodate locally stranded individuals for quarantine last may 31 2020 engineer jay tech himself receives the plaque of appreciation one bethany plays general manager miss amy miro the third local hotel to open and accommodate locally stranded individuals was june 16 2020 to accept is miss amy mural south view hotel proprietor mr jason chan general manager miss helen c valiente on may 26 2020 50 ofw's from all over negros oriental sat in a bus waiting for a hotel to accommodate them for quarantine they had been waiting for five hours because local hotels were apprehensive and would not risk accommodating guests for quarantine after reading the lg u's plea on facebook for local hotels to take them in proprietor of south view hotel mr jason chu contacted us and said he was recalling his staff and we'll prepare the rooms for our ofws a big hand to solve you to accept the plaque is mr jason chan and ms helen c valiente miss valiente will receive the plan bethel guest house proprietor and general manager miss grace valastro to receive the plaque is rodrigo vela's jaw hotels these are hotels which opened and accommodated locally stranded individuals a poor's ofw's rofs for quarantine next is bricks hotel general manager miss paddy abouting and to accept the plaque is miss patty abouting herself these are some of the hotels so open and accommodated locally stranded individuals ofw's ross and for quarantine florentina holmes proprietor mr ramon del prado senior general manager mr gabriel antonio es del prado to receive the plaque non-ideal a big hand once again thank you florentina holmes rm guest house proprietor and general manager attorney raymond mercado to accept the plaque is ms estella c partosa thank you thank you dumagather royal sweet inn proprietor and general manager miss anne beth c to accept the plaque is missing a whale of faith and mendoza rovita sweets proprietor mr michael lee general manager miss maria elaine el pondla to accept the plaque is miss mariela lane are paula himself herself hotel essentia proprietor is kenneth who general manager ms le lupa store and to accept the plaque is mr kenneth who himself la casana hotel proprietor and general manager ms ninska yoldi to accept the plaque is ms menutzka yoldi herself thank you chris fields lodge proprietor and general manager miss diana buhisan and to accept the plaque is miss dyna bohese and herself optimum pension house the proprietor is miss christina chua general manager mr ralph robinson to accept the plaque is mr ralph robin chua we go to aubry's expansion hotel isis mr tua here now all right we moved to abery's pension hotel the proprietor is ms marisa navarro general manager emeline diaz to accept the plaque is miss emelin diaz herself the accommodation establishments the dino residences proprietor and general manager mr jose f dino jr and he is accepting the plaque himself mr dino f mr jose f dino jr solid budget hotel proprietor mr nelson de leon the general manager miss faye paola luis reyes and to accept the plaque is miss michelin v lumihog these were hotels which opened and accommodated locally stranded individuals a pores ofws and rofs for quarantine casa rubin proprietor and general manager mr jesus ruben martinez and mr martinez will accept the plaque himself next are those who accommodated medical frontliners for quarantine after their work shifts last december 2020 when local cove 19 cases started increasing mariah pension and miss michelle ordonias and she will accept the plaque herself thank you and now let's recognize our transports services first facilitated the transport of foreign visitors from dumaguete to ports of exit including baccala airport and mandaue airport during lockdown quantum deluxe tour services proprietor mr roland don p ramos and to accept the plaque is mr ramos himself mr roland dan p ramos of quantum deluxe tour services next they facilitated the transport of bus loads of foreign visitors from dumaguete to cebu during lockdown valiacar transit incorporated owned by miss olivia v yanson and mr ruel v kabuknason will accept the plaque facilitated the crossing of buzzers and vans transporting foreign visitors from dumaguete to cebu during the lockdown ma'ayo shipping incorporated proprietor mr dante oui matiao and to accept his mr dante mutty all right um as you were mr rodrigo jay caliora jr the operations officer accepted the plaque thank you coordinated and facilitated sweeper flights from dumaguete to manila and cebu to manila for stranded foreign visitors during the lockdown later on facilitated sweeper flights for locally stranded individuals dumaguete manila dumaguete and we recognize philippine airlines mr harry d and opherio to accept the plaque is ms l d floor m alvaro thank you facilitated the transport of foreign visitors from dumaguete to manila and dumaguete to cebu during the lockdown we recognized royal aviation academy incorporated general manager miss catherine cristales and to accept the plaque is miss chilemae lorena facilitated the transport of returning residents aboard from ports of entry to dumaguete city we recognize ts tourist services proprietor and general manager mr timothy f iran and mr iran yes john t.s services john candice yes mr john candy's irad will receive the plaque now let's move on to the outstanding employees of accommodation establishments you know over the course of the implementation of mandatory quarantine both the city tourism office and the city health office of dumaguete were closely coordinating with the managers of local hotels 24 7 for almost a year the efficiency of our partner hotels are commendable and we selected the top three outstanding individuals who tirelessly facilitated our requests and served our visitors lsi's ofw's rofs while remaining vigilant in their compliance of local health protocols these are the outstanding employees of accommodation establishments mr miben lordito d digit c l sweets in and c l bay view and mr diggett is here how about giving him a a round of applause for this outstanding employee of one bethany place amy congratulations and from rivera sweets in we recognize miss maria elaine r paula and she is here to receive this recognition and that ends our recognition establishments and persons how about a big big hand to everyone and congratulations everybody we would like to request the 29 tourism stakeholders for a group photo together with our mayor our vice mayor carissa valentina maxino and our city councilors can we ask all the 29 tourism stakeholders to line up here i think now i would like to recognize and we certainly are very pleased that our provincial tourism officer myla may abellana is here with us today so i'd like uh our tourism officer jacqueline velos antonio together with our provincial tourism officer and all the 29 establishments with our mayor vice mayor and our city councilors foreign so [Applause] okay our secretary of the department of tourism who is also a friend of mine remolio has sent us a pre-recorded message for our tourism stakeholders and i think this is really meaningful you know for her to find time to record a message for all of us so let us now listen to the message of secretary bernadette romelu puyat the secretary of the department of tourism this is bernard of the department of tourism extending my warmest congratulations to all recipients of the appreciation and commendation plaque from the city of dumaguete when the pandemic struck in march 2020 there was no playbook to deal with the health crisis of this magnitude as part of our initial response the dot sought to ensure the safety of all tourists stakeholders and workers this herculean effort would not have been possible without the cooperation of our partners in the industry including fellow government agencies various local government units and stakeholders from the private sector alongside the local government of dumaguete we salute the owners operators and employees of the 29 accommodation establishments and transport services from dumaguete who selflessly and bravely responded to the situation brought about by the health crisis in the early most devastating days of the pandemic you helped establish strength and compassion by providing shelter to locally stranded tourists in the succeeding weeks and months you generously allowed your establishments to be used as quarantine facilities for repatriated ofws returning ofws and medical frontliners we are proud to have such upstanding business owners and tourism workers as our steadfast partners in the country's tourism industry we also express our gratitude to the city of the magete for acknowledging the contribution of these tourism-related establishments and service providers in addressing the needs of their community and helping the nation recover from the pandemic they have ably demonstrated that by working together and putting the country's best interests at heart anything is possible again congratulations please stay safe and mabuhay thank you secretary puyat for that wonderful message and that certainly is hopeful dumaguete very hopeful we are ready to reopen to the world we agree right we are all ready to reopen to the world and the community is definitely back in business mayor eager to receive our visitors and friends we haven't seen for quite a long time okay okay and i think that's the kind of message that we send to the world we may now call on our dynamic mayor of the city the honorable felipe antonio biremolio for his closing message may rebecca thank you uh the iconic glinda uh the our gratitude uh to all the stakeholders was succinctly uh described by secretary berna and let me cite a few corrections um secretary bernard counted the pandemic in march of 2020 but actually we reckon the pandemic since january uh no march no since june january of 2020 when the first two couple uh one couple came here uh by a cebu in the third week of january 2020 so not many people know that we count back our experience jacob during that fateful week of january of 2020. so that's what we are you know uh i couldn't believe myself that uh true what what she was saying that there was no rule book that we could browse and refer to when it came to how to stop the pandemic everyone was a tairo everyone was a new fight in this fight against kovid not anyone not any leader in the world was prepared for this and we had our share this uh the look i hope you understand that uh i was also uh among those leaders who was a title in this fight but what kept me going was the the resoluteness the political will to impose and to control the movement of people from the very beginning i think the elected officials were the most unpopular at the time because the doctors had their way of handling things even the lawyers were arguing with me in the facebook ordinary citizens were lambasting us they had everyone had his or her own idea of how to stop the pandemic but we were steadfast i was think i'd like to thank the majority of the city council now headed by carissa valentino maxino she's here let's give her a big big hand our vice mayor michael maxino bandal our counselor member of the majority nelson patrimonio those who are let's give him a big big hand counselor shaco sagar baria councillor lani ramon councillor junior morris and john john lintorio and of course rennes machon they were the members of the majority who stood by me in my decisions and the only thing that i remember saying to those who had different ideas including the doctors i just told them this is the time that is not this is the time not to argue with anyone it is the time to cooperate and help and join the government in its fight against kovid let us argue when all of us are safe from kovid now in april of uh this year we were downgraded from level two to level one so there's only one thing one one group of people who i can thank for are the all of you stakeholders the including the of course there were frontliners headed by our city health official congratulations dr asaba tala for your tireless effort up to today and your staff jackie veloso antonio for making us proud that theresa was still in a above water because teresa was the number one hit the the tourism industry i know you know that because you were part of it of course milo was helping us in the province the even the barangay tanoods our our police our emergency office committee our sea dream city disaster risk reduction management office and all my members of my cabinet in department heads of the city hall who are steadfast okay we were also victims of kavit i myself and majority of my colleagues and we also thank uh and because of that i can say it is providential that it happened to me and it happened to uh the rest of my colleagues because it put on the map meaning we were on the red flag the president was alarmed that our our city electricity officials were uh in uh were covet-stricken and they do not know if we were still alive or the magetto was still functioning and because of that it took only my text to doh and secretary bongo that we needed very badly the vaccines because before then we were only given 1600 doses at the time and uh good only for 800 individuals and i was even blamed by the national officials why didn't i have myself vaccinated considering that the chief executive of all ldu's are supposed to be under a1 category and i told them i cannot in conscience submit myself to a vaccination considering the the the doses that you gave us is so minuscule and i cannot in conscience go i mean put myself ahead of my other elected officials and they were asking me if i needed a rescue plane to bring me to uh to airlift me to manila and i said no i don't need that i need vaccines right away so in less than 12 hours the following day there were 10 million 10 000 doses were were given to us directly to the city no longer passing through the province and every week thereafter including the 50 000 doses are negotiated by uh secretary of tourism that went to us directly not even cebu had that much sibo only got chibo city only got ten thousand davo and davao only got ten thousand we were the most uh i think most favored at the time we also uh had a a a joint effort or an agreement with the department of labor who also worked for additional doses for all workers in dumaguete whether they are residents or not so uh put the long story short the department of health statistics would show that through our vaccination efforts do not get the ranks number one in region seven with 142 vaccination rate congratulations dr zara and the rest of your staff which means that we vaccinated even those non-residents but working in the baguette and i think most a number of your workers staff were benefited from that and because of that i attribute that vaccination efforts as the key to our reclassification from alert level two to alert level one and being alert level one i immediately extended the the curfew for restaurants and your establishments then full capacity right away uh with the caveat or with the with the request that uh you also monitor if these customers or clientele are have their full vaccination card and to those staying outside or open air no need to do that so let's just keep it even if you are in this classification let's let's not be too complacent and let's continue to uh to to discipline ourselves without us going through the checking you out and that is what i'm thankful for the stakeholders in lumagete have already learned to to discipline to self-discipline okay so that uh and we thank you for that and the the recommendation that we have just given you today is um is the least we can do you know uh to thank you and uh that has brought us where we are now okay i have received good uh uh feedback from the international community from the ambassadors and diplomats who have come here and spoke before us no less than 11 of them and they mentioned that our tourism office including the province have really worked hard and championed the cause of bringing out from the negros oriental from dumaguete through dumaguete city through the sweeper flights and that they cannot forget us for uh for it so uh that is what we call uh sweeper flight tourism is there such thing but with that goodwill that we have showed them i know that they will be coming back and it will also directly benefit our stakeholders so we are proud that we are in this situation now and uh we hope this will continue because as bender glinda said this is already the reopening of our tourism industry to the rest of the world even you may have noticed that we have already conducted and sponsored national events like the recently concluded national archery competition held at the pantawan the championship games the triathlon competition and many other sporting events we are i'm just giving you a heads up that in november uh 2022 the biggest international sporting event will happen in dumaguete which is the asean schools games with about 6 000 athletes officials and coaches from all over southeast asia and we were lucky to be chosen as the host city we were actually chosen three years three years ago but because of the pandemic it was postponed and luckily the other cities other countries still maintain dumaguete as i host city okay this will never happen in our lifetime if we don't host it this time i don't think in our lifetime we can host it again because as a third class city compared to other highly urbanized cities in the philippines and in the whole of southeast asia we were the ones chosen and it was not just by luck because we sent the team of elected officials and officials for the deaf ed to go to indonesia and made a presentation our tourism office and it was a composite presentation and collaborated to make a beautiful presentation and that's why uh it is already it will be held here and dep ed already uh uh allocated it's in our 2022 budget 250 million to spend for this event and the rest will be well either solicited or from the different or sponsored from a uh stakeholders i know and that will be the burden of the next mayor of dumaguete whoever he'll be okay so that will be november of 2022. so in short okay i'm so happy that uh we have this recognition day and uh by the way going back to the asean schools games i don't think our stakeholders will be enough to accommodate all of them but you can start expanding your operation and maybe we can start my line jacket and already talk to them if we have enough accommodations we might be needing uh resorts as far as darwin or even buys to accommodate all these people especially the vips who are ministers of education and officials in the different countries okay so it would be a fun thing uh not just the accommodations but the uh the food the food and transportation this will be given free budgeted by the deaf ed already so wala nami problema may pair my parana okay and it will be spent by the national government the rest i'll probably just go around until the end of my term to solicit and i hope i can turn over what i have solicited to the next administration and so that it will push through in november of this year so i'd have to cut myself short because at four o'clock we are inaugurating our [Music] our new evacuation and quarantine facility is a 35 million project it's already done and ready for the next pandemic god forbid ready okay now we are prepared okay and the three and the two new uh super family clinics that we have built one is already operational in talai it's bigger and more modern than our city health office and at the back will be our first city hospital it's already being built okay and one in pandan which we have broken ground already we should be done in 10 months our super family clinic so dylinata there is a city health office there will be new and modern city health clinics plus a city health hospital art a city hospital for the magetti uh learning from our experience a pandemic okay so we have to upgrade our not just the buildings but important and facilities completely unique facilities that's why we thank also doh for helping us out uh we are negotiating for additional 70 million for our new uh hospital to to complement that of the provincial hospital okay it's a pandemic experience natto we really need more accommodation hospitals evacuation center isolation centers okay we have been using i also thank the deafbed for allowing the hospital their uh classrooms to be used apart from your uh from your for i contribution using making us use your respective establishments as quarantine and isolation possibilities there will be more so we are ready for that dr tala maniwanka for the next monday at this we are ready okay and now we have experience the experience that we have gone through taught us that if we are one with government the government in partnership with the private sector nothing is impossible of course with the help of god maya happened and congratulations once again thank you mayor for sharing the journey of dumaguete city in the cove with 19 and our reactions plus of course the series of good news the most proximate is what's going to happen in november so how about giving the mayor a big round of applause once again and salamat mayor we will end with this video presentation entitled every day dumaguete [Music] number one [Music] and remove here order fire one garlic mushroom pasta one smoked pork belly one language oh [Music] relate to some or many of what you saw on everyday life and everyday scenes here in dumaguete with our artists and our artisans that are also recognized not only here but all over the world you can see the images there and so congratulations everybody let's give ourselves again once a big round of applause this is a celebration of the partnership within public and private sector and this is going to continue because we look at the future with much better vision with you in the private sector and with the leadership of government the gang islands to work together thank you all refreshments are served on the side [Music] foreign [Music] now [Music] uh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] um [Music] i for me [Music] bye [Music]

2022-05-09 14:01

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