THE Senate Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations (Blue Ribbon Committee) will investigate the failure to implement the Tourism Act of 2009, which aimed to declare a national policy for tourism as an engine of investment, employment, economic growth and national development.
Senator Richard Gordon, author of the law and chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee, said the tourism industry has failed to reap the full benefits the law projected due to the concerned agencies’ non-implementation of the law.
“This is another missed opportunity because we let the grass grow under our feet. [The law] aimed to give our tourism industry a boost by encouraging investors to open tourism-related investments,” said Gordon.
Under the law, the government will provide full assistance by way of competitive incentives.
Gordon said a long-term development fund and other financing schemes to tourism-related investments. It would have provided thousands of jobs while raising the country’s revenue,” the senator noted.
“Thus, of the 25,000 jobs projected for the entire project until 2016, only 1,500 individuals were employed due to the non-implementation of all the provisions of the law. I want the concerned agencies to show why they should not be held accountable for possible misfeasance, malfeasance or nonfeasance,” he added.
Invited to attend the hearing at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Sen. G. T. Pecson Room are current and former officials of the Department of Tourism, the Department of Finance and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
Under the law, any person, firm, association, partnership, corporation, or any other form of business organization may register as a tourism enterprise within the Tourism Enterprise Zone (TEZ) to avail themselves of incentives and benefits provided they meet the necessary requirements set by TIEZA.
Among the incentives a TEZ-registered enterprise can enjoy are income tax holidays; gross income taxation of five percent; 100 percent exemption on all taxes and customs duties on the importation of capital equipment; and the exemption of transportation and spare parts from tariffs and duties.