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  PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCE - CALABARZON Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano 03 October 2023 CaLaBaRZon Region was the second leg of the Philippine Experience Program (PEP or PhilEx) of the Department of Tourism (DOT). I was excited to revisit Region IV-A since this is a historic region and I love history. Since my younger days, I have been travelling around the five provinces and would frequent historical shrines, Spanish-era Catholic Churches, festivals, beaches and the Taal Volcano. I was also able to visit the islands of Polilio (Quezon) and Corregidor (Cavite). The name of the region is an acronym of its five component provinces: Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon. The region has 21 component cities and one highly urbanized city of Lucena with Calamba City as the regional government center. It is interesting to peek on the evolution of the region. On September 24, 1972, President Ferdinand E. Marcos enacted Presidential Decree No. 1, which organized the provinces into 11 reg...

  CAEXPO @ NANNING Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano 21 September 2023 Nanning is the third city in China I stepped on. The first was when I was sent to the capital Beijing, also known as Peking, by Congressman Faustino S. Dy, Jr. of the 2nd District of Isabela (1992-2001) to study the history, culture and the arts of the Chinese in the year 2000. Before I headed back to the Philippines, I had a short stay in Xiamen, formerly known as Amoy, the city where my maternal forefathers originated at the turn of the 20th century. This week, I was sent to China on an official capacity to grace the 20th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and Business & Investment Summit held at the Nanning International Convention and Exhibition Center in Nanning, capital of south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Joining me from the tourism sector was our office’ chief tourism operations officer, sir Thomas G. Santos and two travel and tours operators; Ms. Verna B. Labang of the R&V Fly Global Travel ...

  34TH PTM & ISABELA RICE ART Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano 03 September 2023 President Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos, Jr., in his speech during the opening of the three-day 34th Philippine Travel Mart (PTM) on September 1 said: “As you continue to invest your energies and passion into your trade and craft, you can be assured of this administration’s fervent support for the entire tourism industry. Policies and programs are underway to create a wholesome climate and stable foundation through the upgrading of critical tourism infrastructure, capacity-building for our workforce and entrepreneurs, fostering a more business-friendly environment, and [improving] the security and the rule of law in our country.” He also recognized the tourism industry’s contribution to the economy, “providing livelihood opportunities to more than five million of our kababayan [compatriot]. With the innate beauty of our 7,641 islands and our people, our tourism will remain to be a vital economic sector...

  NANANG Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano 12 July 2023 Nanang, as we fondly call our maternal grandmother would have been a hundred and nine years old today. Relatives and fellow Cabatuanenses call her “Cianing”, a shortened version of her official baptismal name, Marciana. The parents of Nanang were Ilocanos. His father, Feliciano “Ciano” Agustin Ramos (June 9, 1880-January 26, 1979) was the son of Leon Ramos and Josefa Agustin who all hailed from the old pueblo of Bacarra in Ilocos Norte. While her mother, Juliana “Ulling” Dela Cruz Borromeo (January 27, 1883-October 10, 1978) was the daughter of Gregorio Borromeo and Simeona Rumbaoa Dela Cruz, all residents of the capital town of Laoag (now a city), also in the same province. The couple decided to migrate to Cagayan Valley around 1912 in search for greener pasture and to follow their relatives who travelled earlier. Sailing off the coast of Ilocos Norte, they followed the coastline of northern Luzon and braved the South China Sea...

ITBAYAT Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano 09 July 2023 The island-municipality of Itbayat was the last town in the Province of Batanes I was able to visit. The Island of Batan where the capital-town of Basco is situated, together with the municipalities of Mahatao, Ivana and Uyugan and the island-town of Sabtang, were my official destinations from March 16 to 21, 2023. There are only six municipalities in Batanes province. We had to schedule our visit to Itbayat on another date since we had to secure another flight to get into the island. Travelling by sea takes hours and sometimes very uncertain depending always on the weather. The date of my visit was the last day of May but unfortunately northern Philippines was struck by typhoon during that week. At long last, July 6, Thursday, the weather permitted us to land at the country’s northernmost municipality. Itbayat is the home of incumbent Governor Marilou Horlina Cayco, Vice Governor Ignacio Castro Villa and Sangguniang Panlalawigan Mem...

  SUROY-SUROY SUGBO, EXPLORE THE MIDWEST Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano 13 June 2023 In 2005, the Provincial Government of Cebu embarked on a tourism program that would promote the not so popular and less visited tourist destinations in the province. The program, now famously known as “Suroy-Suroy Sugbu”, commenced during the first term of Governor (2004-2013 & 2019 to present) Gwendolyn “Gwen” Fiel Garcia. The common English translations of the word “suroy-suroy” from the online Cebuano-English dictionary  binisaya.com  are: peregrinate, gad, gallivant and stroll. “Peregrinate” is the nearest translation which means, “to travel or wander around from place to place”. In 2019, the “Suroy-Suroy Sugbu” was relaunched when Governor Garcia assumed the governorship for the second cycle. The Department of Tourism (DOT) Regional Office 2 attended this year’s third Suroy-Suroy circuit with four personnel and two tourism partners from the Region 02 Travel Agencies and Tour Ope...

  BASEY, INFINITE ESCAPES OF EASTERN VISAYAS Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano 08 June 2023 The 2nd Regional Directors’ (RD) Meeting of the Department of Tourism (DOT) was hosted by DOT Eastern Visayas and was held at Tacloban City, the regional center and the capital of Leyte province. After arriving on June 6 at the Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport, we had breakfast at the Biliran Hall at Summit Hotel in Marasbaras, the same venue of our meeting the following day. I requested the Secretariat if I can visit the famous landing site of General Douglas MacArthur and we journeyed for about a quarter of an hour and reached the MacArthur Leyte Landing Memorial National Park at Baras in Palo town, Leyte province. The last time, I was at the memorial was in May of 1998. I was with my campaign team who worked hard to capture a slot for me in the Sangguniang Bayan of Cabatuan, Isabela. As a treat, we travelled by land to my dad’s hometown, Calbayog City, Samar via the Bicol peninsula, crossed the Sa...