Vanguard 4 Dec. 19- 24, 2016
Tabango: Using sports
to boost local tourism
By Ronnie Roa
No to ENDO proposal
It’ s dead on arrival for the proposed new Department Order( DO) on endo of the Department of Labor and Employment( DOLE) as far as labor groups are concerned.
The draft DO, the country’ s major labor groups under the labor coalition Nagkaisa declared, will not lead to the ultimate end but rather to the further strengthening of the legal standing of contractualization in the country.
“ DOLE intends to adopt what all labor groups unanimously rejected during the labor summit – the‘ win-win solution’ of DTI. This could signal the end of President Duterte’ s campaign promise to end endo,” declared Danny Edralin, Vice-Chair for the Private Sector of the Sentro ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa or SENTRO.
For Partido Manggagawa( PM):“ The draft new DO may seem to restrict labor contracting to seasonal and project employment but these employment schemes may however be extended to cover jobs, work or services which are directly related to the business operations of a company. As such, contractualization of labor would still proliferate in the guise of describing the job, work or service as seasonal or project employment,” said PM Chair Renato Magtubo.
The working draft of the new DO was presented during the Tripartite Executive Committee( TEC) of the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council( TIPC) last week. Said DO recognizes trilateral employment relationship which has long been opposed by organized labor as it undermines workers’ rights to security of tenure, to organize and collectively bargain.
For TUCP, the proposed DO is unacceptable.“ It is a mere rehash of what current laws already provide. It gives nothing new to workers. Change requires a DO that further restricts contractualization while a new law is needed to end contractualization,” said Luis Corral, Executive Director of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines( TUCP).
‘ Win-win’, for Nagkaisa, is DTI doublespeak roundly rejected as‘ lose-lose’ by workers. Thus, it is pushing for the passage of HB 4444( Rep. Raymond Mendoza. TUCP Partylist) which prohibits contractualization and calls on Sec. Bello to endorse it for certification by President Duterte as an urgent Presidential measure. HB 4444 prohibits all fixed term contracts and criminalizes violations.
The Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino( BMP) on the other hand wanted to directly challenge President Duterte to completely prohibit endo by means of an executive order.
“ The new draft DO is a mere attempt to rehash DO 18-A with sophisticated words to continue justifying contractualization under the Duterte regime. Thus, BMP now directly challenges President Duterte to immediately issue an Executive Order to strictly prohibit all forms of contractualization by urgently signing a draft EO which BMP crafted and submitted to the Office of the President last November 10, 2016 for instant Presidential executive action,” said its President Leody De Guzman.
Even public sector unions are disappointed on the way the end endo agenda of the Duterte administration regresses.
“ The proposed DO officialises contractualization and bastardizes Duterte’ s campaign platform to end contractualization,” said Annie Geron, President of the Public Services Independent Labor Confederation( PSLINK).
The government is being accused by labor groups as the single biggest practitioner of contractualization in the forms of job order( JO) and contracts of service( CS). ###
Tabango, Leyte- More tourists are expected to visit this northwestern town after its second triathlon event held here recently.
Aptly called as“ Tabango 515,” it stands for the 51.5 kilometers that participants were expected to race that included a 1.5-km swim, 40km bike and 10km run. Athletes from different parts of Leyte and from other regions such as Cebu, Bohol and Cagayan De Oro were present and would surely share with others what they experienced in Tabango.
Ironman challenge finisher, Jenefer B. Paloma of Cagayan de Oro, finished the 51.5 kilometers in just 1:36:22. She conquered the women’ s category on sprint distance and the 2nd to overall finisher Marjun Montealto from Palompon Leyte, with a time of 1:22:30 in open category.
Paloma said that the Tabango 515 was one of her best races. She was amazed at the crystal clear sea water that she swam, the up-anddownhill of bike race and the cheering folks during the run. She promised to bring more participants in the next event.
More local athletes
Since most of the participants came from different places, Mayor Benjamin Jonathan“ Benjo” Remandaban wanted to entice the youth in Tabango to handle the the triathlon. He wanted the youth to participate in sports, and said he preferred them to develop their curiosity to( positive) addiction in sports rather than into illegal drugs.
Remandaban believed in the famous economic principle“ supply and demand” saying that if there were no youth interested using illegal drugs no one will supply it.
The local government unit is already campaigning in schools in their town and would bring triathlon coaches to develop enthusiasts and probably getting college scholarship in the future. To sustain this activity, the LGU will have to allocate funds from their annual budget, the mayor said.
Other tourism activities
Mayor Benjo narrated that eco-tourism would be most attractive to tourists, such as scenic spots in the town, sports tourism and religious tourism. But in Tabango they have the so-called“ social tourism”, wherein they invite friends from other countries who stay in poor houses, giving gifts and experiencing the life of Tabango folks.
Another plan of the mayor is to establish tourist spots or activity on every barangay. Just like the existing Dawahon Island, Boho Beach, Dagkutanan sa
This small northwestern town not only boasts of scenic spots and beautiful beaches, but it has access to a dive site near the island of Malapascua where divers can see thresher sharks and devil rays and an occasional hammerhead in a site called Kemod shoal.
Tabango Mayor Benjo Remandaban: A Strong belief in tourism
Pangpang a religious tourism site, a hike to Mount Kan Tur-aw, and hopefully the cruise on a floating restaurant in Palaypay River, among others.
But Remandaban said their biggest attraction would be the putting up of an ecopark in Manlawaan, a garbage disposal facility converted to an eco-park.
There would be a flower garden, ATV terrain, horse & carabao back riding and zip line. The P3 million incentive earned from the seal of local good governance award would be used to develop this eco-park. Diving in Kemod Shoal
This shoal lies close to the island of Leyte, east of Malapascua, and you can reach it in about 45 minutes.
Besides sightings of thresher sharks and devil rays, there is a good chance to encounter hammerhead sharks here.
The top of the shoal is about 10-12 m deep and is covered in sponges, hard and soft corals. The south side of Kemod shoal forms a slope which goes as deep as 30m before it turns into a great drop-off. The rest of the shoal have stunning walls, covered with sea fans and corals.
The mayor showed his fighting stance in their claim of Kemod shoal. When asked by the Weekly Vanguard. Remandaban said the dive spot in Kemod is part of Tabango Leyte.
“ That’ s our jurisdiction,” he said.
He has plans to discuss the matter with the officials of Logon, Daanbantayan Cebu and is hoping to get a“ win-win” agreement in order to collect dues from the divers in the island.
It would be a great help to the town if they can collect fees from the divers, Remandaban said. #