THE Bacolod City Council approved a resolution encouraging all restaurants in the city to be accredited by the Department of Tourism (DOT).

The resolution, authored by Councilor Israel Salanga, chairperson of the City Council committee on tourism, was approved during the regular session of the City Council Wednesday afternoon, February 3, 2021.

Salanga said the DOT cannot promote or help the best restaurants of Bacolod because most of them have no accreditation from DOT.

“As the intention of the City to put Bacolod as one of the top international food destinations, there is a need to encourage the restaurants in Bacolod to apply and secure accreditation from DOT so that they can be promoted internationally and avail the training and other programs offered to accredited enterprises,” he said.

Salanga noted the DOT is accrediting restaurants as secondary tourism enterprises pursuant to Republic Act (RA) No. 9593 or the Tourism Act of 2009.

Salanga said Section 40 of RA 9593 states that only accredited enterprises shall be beneficiaries for the promotional, training and other programs of the DOT and its attached agencies and corporation.