All system go for the 1st PTCCCA

stakeholders affirm support and participation

By Marlon A. Loterte

Monday 20th of August 2012

LEGAZPI CITY, August 20 (PIA) -- In less than a week from today, the First Philippine Tourism Conference on Climate Change Adaptation (PTCCCA) will open at The Oriental Hotel Legazpi.

On-line registration of participants continues to pour in from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

As of this writing, five of the premier hotels in Legazpi City are almost fully booked but organizers assured that there are enough hotels to accommodate the more or less one thousand expected delegates.

President Benigno S. Aquino III is invited to keynote this historic conference to find solutions to the disastrous effects of extreme weather events like the recent floods that hit Metro Manila and its environs.

The participants expressed anticipation on what the President’s pronouncements will be considering the brunt of “Hagupit ng Habagat” that caused so much hopelessness to the victims.

Besides the President, other key officials of the government are expected to grace the PTCCCA such as Vice President Jejomar Binay; Senator Loren Legarda, the UN Asia-Pacific Senior Champion on Climate change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction (CCA and DRR); Secretaries Jesse Robredo of Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Ramon Paje of Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Lucille Sering and Heherson Alvarez of Climate Change Commission (CCC), among others.

Senator Legarda, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Climate Change hopes to include the result of the PTCCCA deliberations in the framework plans to address the massive flooding in Metro Manila and the Camanava areas following the revelation of Dr. Fernando Siringan, an expert of the UP Marine Science Institute that Metro Manila has started to “sink” and why there is massive flooding even in the absence of a typhoon.

On the local scene, Mayor Geraldine Rosal of this city, Tourism Regional Director Maria “Nini” Ravanilla and Local Climate Change Adaptation for Development (LCCAD), Inc. President and PTCCCA Conference Director Nong Rangasa are the prime movers in this national conference.

Rosal said “the PTCCCA, which coincides with the Street Carnival of the annual Ibalong Festival, will boost investment ventures in the city in as much as the twin events will be highlighted by the inauguration of the Boulevard de Legazpi, a new road opening going to the South Luzon International Airport.”

While the major partners are all agog in the preparation of this significant event, local executives, development and planning officials, tourism officers, and other major stakeholders who have signified their attendance to the PTCCCA have already reached the maximum number of expected participants yet there are still more are placing reservations and hotel accommodations.

Even as the countdown begins today, some national legislators other than the six Bicolano representatives have also manifested their interest in joining the event, not to mention the local officials in Bicol who were mandated by an Memorandum Circular (MC) from the DILG to attend the conference as well as officials of government owned or controlled corporations who were also mandated by an MC from the Civil Service Commission.

LCCAD president and PTCCCA conference director, Nong Rangasa disclosed that flood-ravaged areas like Pampanga, Bataan, Alaminos and Nueva Vizcaya are sending more participants than the expected number. (MAL/LCCAD-PIA5)