Members of the Mandaue City Council conduct a committee hearing with the representatives of the city’s private establishments. | Photo by Mary Rose Sagarino
MANDAUE CITY, Philippines- Mandaue City’s primary and secondary enterprises such as hotels, resorts, apartments, spas, restaurants, among others will soon need to secure a Tourism Compliance Certificate (TCC) from the Mandaue City Tourism Office.
This after the city council passed on first reading last December 2020, the Mandaue City Tourism Compliance Certificate Ordinance authored by City Councilor Marie Immaline Cortes-Zafra.
The city council, yesterday, January 4, 2021, also conducted a committee hearing with the different private establishments.
Zafra explained that the ordinance is in line with the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) mandate, directing local government units to periodically report their tourism plans, and for establishments to submit forms to the DOT, the number of guest check-ins, nationality, number of arrivals among other details. With the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, safety protocols are also part of the requirements.
“Dugay na ni siya pero dili ingon nga na implemented bitaw, this is already in place sa other LGUs like Bacolod, Bohol, after a series of meetings with tourism office sa Mandaue nisulti sila nga they also have hard time gathering data from the establishments mao nang we crafted the ordinance,” said Zafra
“Tungod manggud si LGU, we are required to submit data pod sa province, sa National, sa DOT, ang uban manggud karun ang ginapractice diretso sila sa DOT mo submit, na bypass si LGU, when the national ask sa LGU or kung naay meetings, musilti ang taga tourism niya wala sila kahibaw, ang atoa lang para naa tay check and balance, transparent lang sad, i-inline lang tanan, they will still submit to the DOT pero mo inform sad sila sa LGU, kana ra man gyud ato’ purpose sad sa TCC,” she added.
Zafra said the TCC will be a requirement of the Business Permit Licensing Office in renewing business permits but since the renewal of the business permits has already started, it will be implemented next year.
She added that establishments that will fail to comply will be given a letter from the city’s tourism office to comply with the requirement within 30 days. /rcg