THE iconic Leyte Park Hotel in Tacloban City has closed down, a top official of the Department of Tourism (DOT) in Eastern Visayas confirmed Friday, November 5, 2021.
“The closure of Leyte Park was a business decision that management had to make as operating two properties was no longer feasible,” Karen Tiopes, tourism regional director, told Sunstar Philippines.
The new hotel property operated by the said management was located in Barangay San Jose, Tacloban, some eight kilometers away from the Leyte Park Hotel.
According to Tiopes, the closing down of the Leyte Park Hotel has long been coming when the other hotel started to operate.
However, the majority of the Leyte Park Hotel employees have been absorbed in the new hotel property.
“The Leyte Park Management still occupies the premises until such time that they turn it over to the Privatization Management Office (PMO), with whom they have that lease contract with,” added Tiopes, citing the conversation she had with the said management.
PMO and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza), which have the direct supervision of the Leyte Park Hotel, have yet to issue an official statement over the said closure.
PMO serves as the national government’s marketing arm concerning transferred assets, government corporations and other properties assigned to it by the Privatization Council for disposition.
On the other hand, Tieza, as a government entity attached to the DOT, is responsible for implementing policies and programs of the DOT related to the “development, promotion, and supervision of tourism projects” in the country.
In a 2013 Sunstar report, it said the Leyte Park Hotel is co-owned by PMO (34 percent), Provincial Government of Leyte (26 percent), and Tieza (40 percent).
The hotel property was placed under a lease agreement with a Tacloban-based private corporation in 1994.
It also faced legal issues on the payment of real property taxes.
The 6.1-hectare resort complex, which was built in 1979, was believed to be part of the “ill-gotten wealth” of the Marcos family.
In 1987, the Leyte Park Hotel property was sequestered by the national government during the term of the late President Corazon Aquino. (SunStar Philippines)