As one of the featured models in the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s recent benefit dinner and fashion show at the Manila Hotel, Department of Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco, escorted by husband Duke, walked the runway like a pro in Renee Salud’s Filipiniana finery.
By Alex Y. Vergara
Since you only turn 50 once, you might as well do it in style. To mark the 50th anniversary of Philippine tourism, members of the Pacific Asia Travel Association-Philippine chapter (PATA) held a benefit dinner-slash-fashion show at the Manila Hotel featuring the pillars of the country’s tourism, travel and hospitality sectors, both private and public, led by Department of Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco.
Wearing Filipiniana finery by designers Philip Rodriguez, Renee Salud, Albert Andrada and ready-to-wear brand Wear Your Culture, among others, the evening’s featured models gamely strutted their stuff on the runway like pros. Opening the fashion show was the ever-fashionable Tourism Promotions Board COO Marga Nograles, escorted by husband Civil Service Chairman Karlo Nograles. For the show’s finale, a radiant Frasco, escorted by dashing husband Deputy Speaker Duke Frasco, walked the runway to the delight of those present.
In between the two lovely pairs were the likes of Captain Stanley Ng, Philippine Airlines’ president and COO, Tourism undersecretary Shahlimar Hofer Tamano, PATA Chairwoman Maria Paz Alberto, Conrad Manila’s Joanne Golong, Chroma Hospitality’s Carmela Bocanegra, and Okada Manila’s Cielo Reboredo, among others.
Beneficiaries of the dinner-fashion show for a cause, including an earlier silent auction, were PATA scholars taking up Tourism and the rehabilitation of Pagsanjan Falls, one of the gems of Philippine tourism in Laguna.
PATA is currently the biggest travel organization in the world with a membership of close to 10,000 coming from 55 chapters from various countries. It traces its history back to 1951 when it was first established in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Philippine chapter, with around 100 members, has existed since 1973 and is the only tourism organization in the country that has tourism schools as members.
“Fifty years in the life of a person is not easy. Life with all of its ups and downs, the love, the losses, the victory, the challenges and the difficulties. And therefore, in reaching this milestone for our country, this is truly worth celebrating. PATA was founded just a few years after the founding of the Department of Tourism. And since then, PATA in the Philippines has been instrumental not only in bringing attention to the Philippines, but most importantly in championing Philippine tourism all over the world,” Frasco, wearing a terno top and t’palak skirt, said.
Among the many positive news she shared with the public were the full recovery of the country’s tourism industry after it was sidelined by the pandemic, as well as the country’s enviable tourism numbers. Philippine tourism is estimated to pump in P1.74 million annually to the economy.
“While we have not yet reached the middle of this year, ladies and gentlemen, we have already breached the entire year’s target for 2022 of 1.7 million international arrivals,” she said. “We are now at 1,988,000 in international arrivals. And we perceive a 100 percent recovery of domestic tourism this year. So vast has the tourism industry’s contribution been to the life and times of the Filipino that notwithstanding the fact that we only opened our borders February of last year.”
“Finally, it fills my heart with joy that the advocacy of PATA is education,” she said in conclusion. “Education has been an advocacy that is very close to my heart and that of my husband, Deputy Speaker Duke Frasco, who, in 2008, founded a small scholarship [program] in Liloan with only 48 scholars. And in the course of this time as mayor of Liloan and in the course of my time as mayor of Liloan, when I left in 2022, we already had over 7,000 scholars in Liloan.”
Deputy Speaker Frasco, after he ran and won as representative of Cebu’s 5th district, continued with the program. To date, the couple has added nearly 16,000 scholars coming mainly from Cebu’s 5th district.
“And so I fully support your advocacy. And as a token of my and Congressman Duke’s support to PATA’s support for tourism and education, we would like to pledge in our own personal capacity, the amount of P200,000 to supplement your Tourism scholars.”
The secretary added in a light tone that “no government funds were used in this pledge.”
“You can hear it, you can feel it. The time of the Philippines is now. And we are set to become Asia’s tourism powerhouse,” she ended.
