LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. and Benguet Caretaker Congress Representative Eric Yap vowed to put up a premier convention center in the province for the conduct of prestigious local, regional, national and international gatherings in the future.
Yap, who is the outgoing chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations, stated that initially, he will work out the appropriation of some P100 million in the government’s annual budget next year to jumpstart the proposed put up of the convention center in any suitable area within the valley.
The neophyte lawmaker, who was voted by majority of the Benguet electorate as the province’s full pledged District Representative to the House, claimed that Benguet should be aggressively promoted as a convention haven in the north once the proposed convention center will be completed to provide alternative venues for the gatherings that will definitely serve as one of the province’s economic drivers in the future.
Earlier, representatives of the lawmaker and the public works department met to deliberate on the feasible area where the proposed multi-million convention center can be constructed and the design of the facility appropriate for huge and small gatherings of users.
He pointed out the existence of a convention center similar to convention facilities in Iloilo, Cebu, Davao, Clark, among others, will definitely entice organizers of gatherings to include Benguet as one of their preferred venues activities and thus help in promoting the province and its agri and ecotourism destinations, aside from the products produced by the local residents.
According to him, it is high time that Benguet should be known as a premier convention haven so that it will also have its own identity, aside from being known as the Salad Bowl of the Philippines.
He emphasized that the proposed put up of a state-of-the-art convention center in the province is part of the ongoing efforts to work out the re-classification of Benguet from a second-class to a first-class province with the upcoming implementation of high impact development projects, such as the opening of major inter-provincial and inter-regional road networks that will contribute in improving accessibility to the interior communities.
Congressman Yap assured the people he will work hard to bring in more big ticket projects in the province for the welfare of the greater majority, especially the members of the vulnerable and marginalized sectors, because the improvement of the life situation of people is an offshoot of development.
He will be assuming as the province’s full-pledged District Representative to the House by noon of June 30, 2022 when he will formally take his oath after having served the province as the legislative caretaker over the past 2 years following the untimely demise of the late Rep. Nestor B. Fongwan, Sr who succumbed to a lingering illness on December 18, 2019.
