CITY OF SAN FERNANDO --- Councilor Brenz Gonzales said he is planning to push for a bigger budget for the tourism programs of the City of San Fernando.
Gonzalez said he will study and present to the city council a proposal for the allocation of substantial funding for the City Tourism Office and City Tourism and Investments Promotions Office.
Organizers of the annual Mutya ning San Fernando host big events like the beauty pageant, the Giant Lantern Festival and other tourism, arts and culture programs of the city government.
Gonzales, who chaired the organizing committee of the Mutya Ning Sam Fernando, said these need bigger funding to boost tourism and strengthen the economy of San Fernando.
An insider disclosed that the city's tourism programs allocation is around P100-million to P200-million per year taken from the city government's P2.1 billion annual budget.
"Actually, it is the Executive Department that makes the allocations for the programs from the around P2.1 billion budget. A large part of this goes to social and health services. The budget allocations then pass through the Sangguniang Panlungsod for review. So, I'll see if we can push for a bigger budget for tourism next year," Gonzales said.
For this year's Mutya ning San Fernando, the councilor said he and some officials had to pitch in to double the prize of the winning candidate to P200,000.
Gonzales added that big events like the Mutya ning San Fernando and Giant Lantern Festival really need funding support starting from the barangay level.
"Ang turismo ang sumasalamin sa San Fernando kaya kailangan nating suportahan at tulungan," he said.