Spanish organization to help boost RP's tourism industry
With the fast growing opportunities, the Fundacion Santiago will now focus its program in the promotion of the tourism industry. Helping Small and Medium Enterprises used to be the priority of the foundation.
Señor Chaco Molina, Executive Director of Fundacion Santiago, explained that there is a promising future in the tourism industry especially in the promotion of heritage preservation. Currently, they are pushing for the Pamana and Pag-Asa program. Pamana is a cultural heritage program while Pag Asa is a social development program.
The Pamana program involves the use of all feasible means to make historical and cultural data readily available for close study and reflection. In the same program, they want access to written repositories of the Filipino culture and history for study.
In the Pagasa program, the foundation has designed a strategy dubbed as Sustainable Integrated Area Development (SIAD) approach.The target poverty groups are specified communities. They help set up social enterprise.
In Iloilo City, the foundation has already extended help to different SMEs by conceptualizing the labeling and packaging of food products. The foundation supports lot of projects ranging from assisting cooperatives to sponsoring workshops.
Nevertheless, the foundation will not totally abandon the SMEs as food products produced in one cultural heritage site will still be incorporated in the promotion.
Molina along with Ms. Rocio Moreno, information officer of the Diputacion de Cadiz (provincial government of Cadiz in Spain) are in Iloilo City to promote the Filipinas Ahora Mismo, a radio magazine program aired in government-owned station Radyo ng Bayan, dyLL.
Filipinas, Ahora Mismo is the only radio magazine that showcases Filipino culture. It is an upbeat radio program with regular segments on De Pelicula (movies) Vamos a Leer (literature), Ventana al Pasado en Camino de Cadiz (Phil-Hispanic History), De Isla en Isla (geography), El Fogon de Maria (cuisine), Su Salud (health), Mundo Mujer (women issues), Aprenda Español (Spanish Language), Deportes (sports), Sabias Que? (trivia) and Dichos y Refranes (folk wisdom) sprinkled with the best current and timeless music in Spanish.