Q: Magandang umaga.   

Q: Magandang umaga sir Ricky. 

ASEC ALEGRE: Good morning. Good morning Marie. Good morning, Oliver. Magandang umaga po sa mga taga-pakinig niyo ngayong umaga. Good morning. 

Q: Well, pwede natin gamitin siguro ‘tong event na ito sir, para malinawan ‘no ‘yung mga dadalo sa mga maling perception nila tungkol sa ating bansa. 

ASEC ALEGRE: Alam mo, talaga namang at this point, Marie, ang utos po ni Secretary Wanda Tulfo Teo, simula pa ‘nong isang araw, is first and foremost siyempre ang safety ng ating mga kababayan, ‘di ba? 

We can always continue the aggressive promotion when the time comes. But at this point, we want to make sure that all our citizens and our nationals in that area, including tourists are safe and out of harm’s way.

Itong nagaganap ngayon is a temporary situation. But alam naman natin, Marie, that this, the ultimate goal, of course, is to make Mindanao a safer place to live for all.

Q: So as of now, on hold muna ‘yung mga pag-promote natin or paghikayat natin sa mga turista, sir na pumunta sa Mindanao?

ASEC ALEGRE: Actually, ‘nong nangyari ‘yung incident, sa Marawi naman talaga. Hindi talaga masyadong pinupuntahan. And we were happy to note na wala pang pasok, ‘di ba? Kasi can you imagine kung may pasok at that time?

So Marawi is not really a visited area. It is the surrounding areas in some, from Cagayan de Oro, and the neighboring provinces. And ang ginagawa po natin ngayon, inutos po ni Secretary Wanda sa mga regional directors na makipagkita at mag-meeting sa mga stakeholders to ensure the safety of everybody. 

And that means talk to the hotel operators, talk to the tour, the tourist destinations, para you have to check, kung kumusta sila.

At kung nandoon sila sa mga area medyo may panganib, ilayo muna natin sila. Meron kaming feedback na merong ibang lumipat ng destination. Nag… they chose to go, for example, they chose to go to other areas in Mindanao or Visayas na sa tulong din naman ng airlines at ng hotel operators, ‘yung mga fees of cancellation at mga rebooking hindi na ho sumingil. 

Kaya maganda ‘yung naging epekto rin na nakisama satin ‘yung tourism industry. 

Q: Okay, Sir, pag-usapan naman natin itong mangyayaring conference of tourism statistics next month po. 

ASEC RICKY ALEGRE: Well, in fact, inannounce na ‘yan ni Secretary Wanda and we are expecting a big delegation to arrive next month. 

Dahil ang importante po dito talaga, Marie, is our image [garbled] statistics on media because we know that we have to share this information with our neighbors.

Naaalala mo, Marie, this, this recently, we had our ASEAN Leaders Summit. Isa sa mga tinalakay kasi diyan Marie, is that, ASEAN, amongst itself, the ASEAN countries amongst itself, it is… [garbled] to help each other promote visit ASEAN. Can you imagine the targets that we will achieve?

Right now, nagiging challenge kasi ‘yung pagpunta sa Pilipinas because 99 percent have to come in by air, the air connection. Unlike the neighboring countries in ASEAN na may neighboring countries sila, ‘di ba, and they’re able to cross the border easily.

So knowing that we need to promote that service between air connections and now merong Ro-Ro between Davao and Indonesia, ‘yun ang mga efforts so that we can keep and bring closer ASEAN nations together.

The [process?] we’ll achieve that. Take a look at the statistics and see how we can upgrade our services especially in the ASEAN region.   

‘Cause we know for a fact, Marie, na ang Pilipinas ang isa sa pinaka-choice na destination because of our warm and world class hospitality.

Q: Oo, ‘yun traits nating mga Filipino. Nakakutuwa nga rin, sir, kasi ‘yung mga Russians pala, 50 percent ‘nong mga turista na Russians na bumibisita sa Pilipinas, nagpapasya sila na bumalik ulit dito, ‘no. Parang mga repeat clients sila.

ASEC ALEGRE: Actually, ‘nong araw, maalala mo ha, we used to have direct flights. We used to have Aerofloat here. And we used to have direct flights even to [inaudible] I don’t know if you recall that na Russians talaga ang dumadating at direkta diyan.

So nakakatuwa ngayon na ito’y magaganap na, sa atin dito at alam naman natin pag tag-lamig doon sa kanila, and that’s about five, four to six months, eh gustong-gusto nilang pumunta dito sa Pilipinas. 

And recently nandon si Secretary [garbled] at nakabalik na rin siya sa Pilipinas. At iniulat niya na nagkaroon ng signing between Philippines and Russia. And ngayon eh, I believe that there are about 80 [garbled]

[phone interview cut]

ASEC ALEGRE: Yes. Naputol, sorry. I’m very sorry naputol. I’m mobile kasi.

Q: Okay lang po, sir. Actually, ‘yung tungkol kasi doon sa ano, sa martial law. So masasabi natin na talagang… ano ba sir sa palagay niyo ‘yung epekto nitong martial law sa Mindanao sa tourism po natin, sa pangkalahatan po?

ASEC ALEGRE: Well, of course, a lot of concerns have been brought to our attention. ‘Yung mga tours coming from Korea, coming from the US, nakikita natin na kahit papaano, ang epekto niyan is maaring magbawas na muna ang pagpunta doon sa Mindanao because of the current situation.

Ang maganda lang talaga dito Marie and Oliver, is that we have so many alternative destinations. In fact, even in Mindanao, I’ll tell you, like Siargao. Siargao continues to enjoy high, high arrivals of tourists that stay longer.

In fact, two weeks ago, Marie I was in Siargao for a surfing competition, international.

Q: Wow. ‘Yan. Surfing talaga, kilala ‘yang Siargao.

ASEC ALEGRE: And I bumped, I came across some Russian couples that I said, “How long are you going to stay here?” “Oh, we’ll be here for three months.” So nakikita mo ‘yung stay nila, ‘yung stay nila sa Siargao, for example, ganon ka tagal.

Can you imagine the impact to the local community? At natutuwa kami na nakita natin na there were about, I think, 30 competitors in that ano. And it brought a lot of siyempre mga alalay, [fans?] with them ‘di ba?

So even Davao, for example. I was in the Argentinian, 207^th National Day Commemoration the other day and they have confirmed to me, the DFA confirmed to me that the delegation of about 200 to date, even despite the declaration of martial law, continue to insist that they continue their trip to Mindanao, specifically Davao.

So it’s important lang siguro, Marie and Oliver, for us to continue reporting what our military and PNP are doing to ensure the safety of everybody. 

Siguro we just have to triple our efforts to explain that to the foreign media and the local media na ‘yung effort to contain the area and bring it back to normal and bring it back to business as usual is being done as we speak. 

Q: And tsaka sir, kanina, ano naman eh, ‘yung nainterview din namin ‘yung Vice Governor ng Lanao del Sur. Ang sabi niya talagang naka-confine lang sa Marawi City ‘yung bakbakan po. 

ASEC ALEGRE: In fact pag nakita mo sa mapa, sa Mindanao ano, ‘yung Marawi, talagang napakaliit. Pero you know naman our attitude there, Marie, no matter how small, we need to defend them. 

Q: Oo, tama. 

ASEC ALEGRE: We need to make sure they’re safe, even before we talk about promoting and securing the tourists. Of course that’s our primary role. We want to make sure the community is safe. 

Q: Tama sir ‘yung binanggit niyo kanina ‘yung mga turista, mga foreigner kasi may info nga kami rito ‘yun daw mga tourists, mga officials ‘to tsaka mga businessmen, na naka-base sa Hong Kong, eh nanggaling nga sila kamakailan lang diyan sa El Nido island eh, sa Palawan. 

ASEC ALEGRE: Yes, yes. In fact, alam mo ‘yung buong El Nido, San Vicente, alam namin ‘yung airport sa San Vicente ginagawa na ngayon kasi that whole stretch, ang dami ng investors na magtatayo ng mga tourism facilities. 

So El Nido, of course, Coron and despite their advisories about presence there, the PNP and military are able to contain the problem and now ang dami nanamang nagpupunta sa area ng Palawan. 

Q: Maraming salamat po sir Ricky. 

Q: Thank you. 

ASEC ALEGRE: Salamat Oliver. And may I just take this opportunity to thank you and to tell our people that importante po may dala kayong proper identification [garbled] 

[phone interview cut] 

ASEC ALEGRE: Marie, Oliver, salamat dahil talagang importante kasi ngayon ang panawagan po ng [garbled], we have our DOT personnel deployed sa airports, seaports. 

Pero hinihiling namin sa publiko na palaging magdala ng proper identification, ‘di ba? Maging mas alert sa surroundings, report suspicious looking elements. Pag hindi niyo sigurado, i-report niyo na kaagad. Anyway, sa community natin kilala natin ‘di ba? 

And most of all, let us all be vigilant and be very alert at all times para maging safe po ang buong bansa, for both our nationals and tourists that are roaming our country. Maraming salamat po.

— END —

source: PCO PND Transcriber