Tagum City—Three Pearl Awards were bagged by the local government of Tagum, which resulted to the elevation of the city into the Hall of Fame, in the 13th Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP) Department of Tourism (DOT) Pearl Awards last October 5, 2018 at Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental during the 19th National Convention of Tourism Officers.
The city government of Tagum’s best practices on promoting and bannering tourism gained two of the highest recognitions an LGU could receive after a thorough and rigorous screening of the ATOP panel wherein only three finalists each category were able to defend their programs from a total of 102 hopeful entries at the National Commision for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) last September 21 and 22.
The first pearl was on community-based responsible tourism where Tagum, priding its banner program, the Tagumpay Gulayan which is aimed for a healthy and food-secured city while promoting farm-tourism, bested all other entries from different municipalities, cities, and provinces across the Philippines.
The bid for best tourism-oriented LGU, which highlighted the efforts of the city’s Tourism Office in putting premium on its best practices relative to the promotion of tourism events such as Musikahan Festival given the absence of natural scenic tourist spots in Tagum, was hailed as the winner for three consecutive years and earned the second pearl; receiving the same award for three straight years yielded the third pearl which installed the City of Tagum in the Hall of Fame.
The prestigious convention and awards night was keynoted by the secretary of the Philippine Communications Operations Office, Jose Ruperto Martin M. Andanar where he highlighted the duties and responsibilities of the government and its constituency towards preserving Mother Nature.
He stressed out that, “We should rightly be proud of these gifts from nature. As we must, as a matter of obligation, preserve, protect, respect and cherish the land and the waters underneath the environmental circle that surrounds us.”
Furthermore, Sec. Andanar underscored that while the government is exhausting all means to provide guidance for managing the natural resources, people must provide for conservation.
The tourism awards conferred to Tagum were considered to be keys in opening new doors to explore new means of creating programs that promote tourism in the city which would generate a multitude of benefits to people.
The Tagum delegation who attended the recognition ceremony was led by Hon. Ronald S. Eliot, the committee head on Agriculture, Hon. Rey Cyril T. Alba, committee head on Tourism and Sisterhood Ties, and Vicerjean Casiano, the Division Head of the City Tourism and Investment Promotions Division. JP Cordovero/CIO Tagum
