Bing re-launching
‘tourist is a friend’
BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday said he is re-launching his tourism program called “A Tourist is a Friend,” because tourists continue to contribute to the economy of Bacolod.

Leonardia, a former Tourism Department official, said he had adopted the program that was very successful in the early 1980’s.

He said, “If tourists feel safe and their stay here is pleasant, they will become our walking marketing tools and that will happen if the community itself will fully support our tourism program and make tourists feel special, safe, secure and at home here.”

Officials of the 40 barangays in Bacolod City considered prone to flooding and other officials of city departments and offices directly involved in disaster management are undergoing a 3-day community-based risk reduction management training provided by the Bacolod City government in partnership with Corporate Network for Disaster Response and SMART Telecommunications.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday said this is part of the city’s thrust to give disaster preparedness the attention it requires.

The training that started yesterday at the L’Fisher Hotel, is aimed at formalizing the structure of the City and Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils based on R.A. 10121, or the newly approved law on Disaster Risk Management.

Col. Oscar Lactao, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, yesterday ordered Army field unit commanders to secure the remaining rebel returnees, who may be targets of assassination by the New People’s Army, after the summary execution of a former NPA red fighter in Calatrava, Negros Occidental.

Rebel returnee Freddie Sanchez succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds after he was shot by suspected New People’s Army hitmen at a videokee house, in front of his residence in Barangay Mina-utok Saturday night, military and police records showed.

Sanchez was among the first batch of rebel returnees in northern Negros, who surrendered to the 62nd Infantry Battalion, and availed of financial and livelihood assistance from Governor Alfredo Maranon Jr. in June last year.