BAUKO, Mountain Province – The Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP) and the Department of Tourism (DOT) cited the municipal government of Bauko as 3rd runner up in the search for best practices on municipal festivalsin recognition of the town’s exceptional practices, projects and innovations and the men and women behind great contribution to community development and the tourism industry.
Begnas di Bauko was shortlisted from the first screening based on published criteria by panels of jurors convened by ATOP which is one of the fastest growing festivals in the country to date.
The documents went into final review with the finalist submitting themselves to an en banc interview with the members of the national panel of Jurors who declared the winners.
Begnas di Bauko is a culture of thanksgiving celebrated into festival through Municipal Ordinance number 030-A every 2nd Thursday of March.
The winners were awarded during the ATOP 18th National Convention and 13th Pearl Award at Iloilo Convention Center, Iloilo City last October 6, 2017.
The municipality of Bauko was represented by Councilor Ricky Samidan, SB Chair on the Committee on Tourism and Tourism Operation Officer Arsenia Addon who received the award.
Mayor Abraham B. Akilit claimed the recent success of the municipality in the field of tourism is a testament of its unrelenting and uncompromising effort to establish the municipality as a preferred tourist destination in the province in the future because of its existing assets of towering and majestic mountains, scenic waterfalls, historic tourist destinations among others.
“We commend the concerned stakeholders for their efforts in aggressively promoting the municipality as a tourist destination because it is really tourism that will perk up the local economy,” Akilit stressed.
He added that the local government will continue to invest in tourism to help attract the influx of foreign and domestic visitors amidst the negative publicity that the town had been receiving over the past several years, which is a result of the illegal activities committed by non-residents of the municipality.
By HENT