THE New Central Visayas Tourism chief accepted his new post because it was an opportunity to serve the place where his mother came from.
Catalino Chan III, new Department of Tourism in Central Visayas director, cited this as one of the reasons why he gladly accepted the offer to be the top Tourism head of Region 7.
Chan said his mother was from Aloguinsan town in midwest Cebu.
While he admitted that his new post still overwhelms him due to differences in structure and staff, he said he gladly took the opportunity to move here so he could “serve where his mother came from.”
“Cebu is a booming destination. I came from an emerging destination,” said Chan, who spent most of his personal and professional life in Mindanao before he took over his new post.
Chan was born in Mambajao, Camiguin, to the late retired Judge Ceferino Chan, founder of Camiguin Telephone Cooperative, and the late Mercedes Echaves, who founded the Mambajao Community Rural Bank.
He said his mother met his father during their college days at the University of San Carlos.
After graduating with a degree in Business Administration with a major in Marketing at USC in the late ’70s, Chan worked as managing tour director at Baron Travel Corporation for three years before returning to Camiguin.
There, he worked as a Tourism officer and was among the founders of the 38-year-old Camiguin Lanzones Festival. While he was the provincial tourism officer of Camiguin, he organized and founded the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines.
He served as director of the Department of Tourism in Northern Mindanao (DOT-10) before he was appointed to his new post.
He also assured that he could perfom his duties as the new Central Visayas Tourism director well despite his having spent most of his personal and professional life in Mindanao.
Chan said he has always looked to Cebu and the rest of Central Visayas for practices he could use in his own region.
“We’ve always coordinated with Cebu for our tourism requirements and what to expect on the supply side. Our services wouldn’t be complete without the influence of Cebu,” he said.
He said he was also a travel agent in Cebu for four years, so he knows the market here.