SCUTTLEBUTT

Adjustments are necessary to make the tourism industry more competitive, starting with ensuring that the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) aligns its efforts with the objectives of its parent agency, the Department of Tourism (DoT).

TIEZA is a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) attached to the DoT under Republic Act 9593 or the Tourism Act of 2009.

It serves as the primary implementing arm for infrastructure development, the regulation of Tourism Enterprise Zones (TEZs), and assets management.

It is mandated to collect the travel tax, 50 percent of which is earmarked for TIEZA’s operations.

While legally subordinate to the DoT, whose Secretary chairs its Board of Directors, TIEZA wields significant operational autonomy, including the power to designate and supervise TEZs, impose penalties on non-compliant enterprises, and manage multibillion-peso budgets from travel taxes.

Its structure has sparked criticism that TIEZA operates like a “state within a state,” a tourism industry veteran intimated to Nosy Tarsee.

In the travel sector, TIEZA is seen as overshadowing the DoT in its policy-making role, leading to inefficiencies, overlaps, and accountability gaps.

Nosy Tarsee was given the lowdown on TIEZA’s financial independence and broad mandate as contributing to the erosion of DoT’s authority, at a time when the country is in a fierce rivalry with its neighbors to attract tourists.

TIEZA controls substantial funds from travel taxes worth P7.8 billion last year for projects without complete DoT oversight.

The DoT’s branding budget, which is used to promote the country, is a measly P400 million.

This required the intervention of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. after it was reduced to P100 million by the bicameral conference committee (bicam).

In 2023, President Marcos ordered a review of TIEZA’s “non-operating” tourism zones, highlighting how TIEZA’s asset management had led to underutilized properties worth millions, while the DoT struggles with limited budgets for broader promotion.

The travel sector has assailed the “misallocation” that hampers national tourism goals, as TIEZA prioritizes infrastructure over holistic policy implementation.

TIEZA’s regulation of tourism zones is seen as a power that encroaches on the DoT’s supervisory role.

Analysts, including the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) which advises the President, have pushed for privatizing TIEZA’s non-core assets to refocus the DoT on strategy, arguing that TIEZA’s self-sufficiency creates “parallel structures” that dilute departmental leadership.

The long tenure of Mark Lapid, son of Senator Lito Lapid, as Tieza’s chief operating officer (COO) has been repeatedly questioned. Lapid held the top post at the state firm intermittently since 2009, a span exceeding 15 years across three administrations.

Appointed initially as the Philippine Tourism Authority’s acting general manager in 2008, he transitioned to TIEZA COO in 2009, after the Tourism Act was passed.

Lapid served until 2016, returned in 2021 under Duterte, and was retained by Marcos in 2022, which is viewed in the travel sector as a clear reflection of political patronage.