Thursday, January 19, 2006
Mayor to ATF delegates: Disregard US travel advisories
By Nelson Bagaforo and Ben O. Tesiorna
DAVAO CITY -- Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte told delegates of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Tourism Forum to disregard travel advisories of "self-serving" American and European countries and visit Asean countries as often as possible.
In his welcome remarks during the opening of the ATF at the Central Bank Tuesday night, Duterte said the negative travel advisories against some Asean countries by the United States and other developed countries are nothing but crap.
"Of course, the negative travel advisory against us is canted and self-serving. There is politics in tourism, after all. If we look at the countries that are fond of labeling us as having 'security problems,' these are actually the very same countries that invade and conquer other countries, wage unjust wars, and incidentally, control the global tourism industry," Duterte said.
"So we should not accept that as a matter of fact, but view it as part of a larger political context. Being hypocritical and discriminating against poorer and smaller destinations like us is probably their tourism strategy. Because how else can they compete against exotic and culturally rich Asian destinations," the mayor added.
Duterte said he will be the first one to issue a travel advisory if ever it merits one and not other countries who does not know the real situation here in the region.
"If I may be allowed to share Davao's tourism strategy, it can be summed up with this -- take care of your own people, remain unconquered, assert your independent spirit, maintain and encourage diversity, ensure just implementation of law and order, and ignore travel advisories issued by ill-advised embassies. We will tell you ourselves if we are not ready for your visit," he said.
Duterte's short speech was well applauded with Tourism Secretary Ace Durano commenting, "No wonder Duterte is the city's main tourist attraction."
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Most Livable Philippine City in Asia! We will take good care of you the way we do our own," Duterte assured.
On Wednesday, Duterte was tasked to make a presentation on how to strengthen local tourism amidst crisis before tourism delegates, but the mayor, who was in his best fighting mood, berated the US government for its unfair policies on visiting foreigners.
"They always think they are the most powerful," said Duterte, a lawyer and a former prosecutor.
After Duterte's speech, a US delegate who refused to be named said the city mayor "creates a climate of distrust" with his remarks.
"He deals on stereotypes. I don't think it's fairly constructive," he said.
But a delegate from India expressed support for Duterte, claiming the US government has been trying to reign supreme over poor nations.
"I fully agree with him," said Om Prakash, director of Mumbai-based Orbit Tours and Trade Fairs Private Ltd.
Clad in his usual Barong Tagalog and a pair of maong (denim) pants, Duterte was applauded six times in his one-hour speech, where he also reiterated that visiting foreigners who "follow the rules" will be treated properly while those who engage in illegal business in the city will be dealt with accordingly.
Duterte, who disregarded a prepared speech, also criticized the US government's refusal to turn over to the Philippine government four US servicemen accused of raping a Filipina at the Subic Freeport on November 1 last year.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. had earlier said the US has invoked a provision in the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) which gives custody of the four soldiers to the US.
But the feisty Duterte told ATF delegates that if such incident happened in his city, he would not allow the suspects to go scot-free.
"I do not give a sh_t about agreements (referring to VFA). If you do it in my city, you will be arrested and I will be the first one to accompany you to prison," he said.
The rape case in Subic heightened his opposition to the presence of US forces holding joint exercises with Filipino forces in various parts of the country dubbed "Balikatan."
"I told the National Government, I will never, never allow foreign troops in my city," he said.
Apparently irked by the US government's policy to "deport immediately" visiting foreigners found to be bringing or using "counterfeit items," the city mayor said he sees such move as unfair treatment to those who want to visit the country.
For instance, Duterte said the US Customs reportedly arrested a Filipino-Chinese man, whom he did not name, who arrived in the US recently "because he was wearing a fake Rolex watch."
The city mayor went on by urging delegates -- tourism players from the Asean region, China, India, South Korea, US and Japan -- to shun the US as their area of destination.
"Do not go to the US where you are treated as a potential terrorist," said Duterte, to the applause of the delegates, some of whom came from Muslim countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam.
The US had launched what Duterte described as terror attacks in Arab countries, such as Iraq and Afghanistan following the Twin Tower attack in New York, blamed on the terror network al-Qaeda of Osama bin Laden.
The US also issued a watch list of terror groups operating in Asia that includes the National Democratic Front (NDF), a communist movement fighting the Philippine Government for the past three decades.
Duterte disputed this, saying the communists, apparently referring to the NDF and its armed wing the New People's Army (NPA), "are not terrorists."
"They are revolutionaries fighting for a cause," he told ATF delegates. "In Davao City, we are not fighting the communists. I do not know about other areas."(Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
(January 19, 2006 issue)
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