PROTECTION of the thriving tourism industry of the Island Garden City of Samal from politics is the main reason why the island's Caracoles Festival has been postponed.
The festival will be held right after the May 10 automated elections.
In a statement released Wednesday by the Davao del Norte Provincial Tourism Council and the Caracoles Samal 2010 Executive Committee, it said that the festival will take place on May 21 to 23.
"Recognizing the very hot election season this year, the Council decided to move the holding of the festival," the statement said. "For the tourism industry to advance and be sustained, it must not be held hostage by partisan political considerations."
One of the highlights of the festivities in Davao Region during the week-long Dive Davao Festival is the Caracoles Festival of the Island Garden City of Samal, which is island-party inspired.
Further explaining their move to postpone the staging of the Caracoles Festival, the council said that the inclusion of the government officials in the tourism industry does not provide for continuity as most elected and appointed government officials ‘come and go every three years, on the average’.
"While they (government officials) may advance one basic common goal, that is the welfare of the people, specific approaches may vary from one official or office to another," the statement added.
Samal Mayor Aniano Antalan has refused to sign the permit to stage the Caracoles Festival in Peñaplata district on April 23 and 24.
In a press conference Friday at Dencia's Restaurant, Antalan said there was no proper coordination from the Department of Tourism (DOT) to the Igacos local government.
"I received a letter from a marketing director asking for a permit. I refused to sign it since they did not follow protocol," he said.
The Caracoles Festival, launched by the DOT six years ago as a kind of summer mardigras, was beset with problems over the years.
"When it was started about six years ago, appropriate coordination was made with the local government of Igacos: thus, the LGU (local government unit) contributed some amount as counterpart and logistical support, and Caracoles was first successfully staged in Babak district (Igacos)," Antalan said in a statement.
"Sadly, however, despite the original agreement to hold it alternately in Babak, Samal and Kaputian, DOT (Davao) chose to stage it at Waterfront Insular Hotel on the second year, then back to Babak in 2007," the statement said. (CPM)