By Saul Pa-a/Philippine News Agency
CALAMBA CITY, Laguna — The city government and over 100 tourism-related establishments (TREs) on Tuesday signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) that promotes gender equality and women empowerment to create more job opportunities in the tourism sector.
City Cultural Affairs, Tourism and Sports Development Department (CATSDD) head Larissa Malinao and supervising tourism officer Liza Estolano inked the pact with enterprise owners, chief executives and operations officers following the two-day seminar workshop on women empowerment in the tourism sector.
Lilibeth Calderon, Gender and Development (GAD) workshop facilitator from Colegio de San Juan de Letran-Calamba, said the agreement on gender mainstreaming explores mechanisms towards gender equality and equity in the labor force and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism sector.
“It (MOA) serves to promote tourism that integrates gender equality and provides a framework for the parties to empower women in order to achieve gender equality as part of their respective mandate,” she said.
A significant provision of the agreement is anchored on the National Hero and Calamba patriot Dr. Jose Rizal’s legacy on training and education, especially in establishing fair and just access among women in terms of tourism resources and opportunities.
Giving reference to Rizal’s respect for women during his time, the agreement also recognizes the modern “Maria Clara” in appreciating woman’s influence, and enabling and creating women’s association to participate in the development of tourism policymaking and programming to promote overall empowerment.
The city’s gender mainstreaming also focuses on Rizal’s legacy of integrating the deeply-ingrained Filipino values of hospitality, “bayanihan” (cooperation), solidarity and pride of the Filipino race and protection of the natural resources to attain sustainable tourism development.
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