Tuesday, November 04, 2008 Espina: Land below the wind By Mila C. Espina In my diary
WHAT is it like to be in a land below the wind?
We visited Sabah to participate in the Sabah International Expo (SIE) 2008 in Kota Kinabalu and experienced its tropical climate, so much like the Philippines, except perhaps its being more secure from turbulent rains and typhoons because its geographic domain is below the wind belt.
The Governor of Cebu Province Gwendolyn Garcia was invited to grace the event by no less than the Deputy Prime Minister Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak, the Chief Minister of Sabah Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Hadjiman, the Honorable Minister of Industrial Development Datuk Dr. Ewon Ebin and the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Masidi Manjun.
They all held press conferences for the governor and her delegation composed of board member and tourism chair Agnes Magpale, board member Teresita Celis, information and communication consultant Caesar Atienza, Mandaue chamber president Eric Mendoza, Cebu Chamber VP-membership Ed Limtingco, the governor’s Chief of Staff Bess Francia, Cebu International Convention Center executive director Marissa Nallana and me (for media and academe).
It was work more than anything else. The meetings between the governor, and the government and private sectors of Sabah yielded a positive note with Datuk Dr. Ewon Ebin pledging Sabah’s participation in the anniversary celebration of the Cebu Province as well as in One Cebu International Trade Fair in August 2009 to explore economic ties. Eric and Ed were amazed at the big attendance of some 400 exhibitors in Sabah’s premier trade fair and saw some viable prospects of partnerships in agriculture and manufacturing as a way of alleviating poverty and creating productive entrepreneurship.
Sabah has a robust economy growing at about 5 percent per annum. In recent years, the industrial sector gained increasing prominence. Meantime, Agnes and I were happy to get the assurance of tourism minister Datuk Manjun that Sabah will put Cebu in its tourism priorities. Sabah has multi-racial population of three million.
In 2007, it registered almost four million tourism arrivals and the number keeps on increasing. Sabah, formerly known as North Borneo, gained its self-government from Britain in 1963, and later joined the Federation of Malaya, Singapore and Sarawak to form Malaysia. In 1965, Singapore became a sovereign nation.
The impact of the insights of Gov. Garcia delivered in the press conferences landed twice in the main pages of the New Sabah Times.
“There are a lot of things, Sabah and Cebu could do in promoting tourism and trade,” she said. She added that Cebu is a melting pot, embracing any country with openness and warmth to promote inter-racial friendship. Cebu looks forward to see more visitors from Malaysia, she asserted.
Sabah and Cebu would explore areas in which both can encourage airlines to put more direct flights to connect the two more frequently. Furthermore, both will work on investment linkages and expand tourism clusters.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
In 1996, Sonny and Armi Garcia organized a cultural and media tour in Vladisvostok, Russia, where the University of San Jose-Recoetos (USJ-R) Dramatics and Cultural Ensemble had a series of cultural performances.
We fell in love with Russia’s arts and culture. After being named Honorary Consul of the Russian Federation, Armi pursued further Cebu’s partnership with Russia. Gov. Gwen Garcia and Consul Armi went back to Russia, this time to Moscow, Petersburg and Vladimir, with a group of businessmen and academicians to officially sign a memo of partnership. This endeavor was followed by Meet Russia: A Russian Lifestyle Seminar held at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino.
The World Tourism Congress, spearheaded by the Department of Tourism and the Asian Grassroots Women’s International Academy Forum, hosted by Lihok Filipina and the Foundation of Zonta Clubs of Cebu Inc. were held in Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort & Spa and in the Cebu Country Club, respectively. Both tackled the valuable role of tourism in easing up the social ills brought about by poverty.
All these events are proof that Cebu is gaining ground as one of Asia’s most accessible convention hubs.
