The provincial government, through the Provincial Planning and Development Office, warmly welcomed the officials of Barangay San Antonio, Makati City during their visit at the Capitol for a benchmarking of sustainable tourism and engineering programs of the province of Iloilo.
Provincial Culture, Arts, History, and Tourism Office chief Gilbert “Bombette” Marin gave an overview of the tourism promotion and development services of his office towards maintaining the competitiveness of Iloilo as a tourist destination. He also presented the different tourism clusters and destination areas that the visitors could enjoy.
The Provincial Engineer's Office showed to them the proposed smart and green government center in Santa Barbara which is designed as a one-stop shop for national government agencies providing frontline services.
PPDO's Carr Brian Griño shared the best practices of Iloilo on infrastructure maintenance, particularly on maintaining roads and bridges.
Provincial Administrator Raul Banias later joined the benchmarking sessions and shared that the provincial government, under Gov. Toto Defensor, gives priority in addressing social inequities under his social justice agenda MoRProGRes Iloilo which aims to make the province progressive, globally-competitive, and resilient.
Belonging in a highly-urbanized city, San Antonio intends to integrate Iloilo’s sustainable practices in promoting the aesthetics and structural integrity of their own facilities.
Punong Barangay Restituto Cajes lauded the province for its program on the protection and preservation of cultural structures.
He also praised Iloilo’s efforts in pursuing community-based tourism, adding that they wanted to replicate the province’s practice of promoting local products which translates to livelihood of the residents.
Cajes also thanked the Ilonggos for being hospitable, noting that they really felt how malambing and courteous the locals are.
See also: