PTA chief denies ordering removal of name from controversial seal
Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) general manager and chief executive officer Robert Dean Barbers denied over the weekend a report that he had his name removed from controversial markings etched on a PTA project on Boracay Island.
“As I said, there is nothing wrong with it. Why would I order it removed?” Barbers said in a telephone interview.
He was reacting to a report that his name etched along with PTA seals marking a P140-million drainage system project along the main road of the island-resort are being replaced with the PTA’s website following complaints from some residents and resort owners.
Barbers said it was the contractor of the project that initiated the changing of his name with the website address. But he said he did not want it changed because it will only mean more expenses.
“The contractor assured me that they will shoulder the expenses for those that they already changed. I told them to let the others be,” said Barbers.
A member of the team working on the project had said that they were instructed by the PTA to remove Barbers' name and replaced it with the website address because it was reported in the newspaper. He asked not to be identified because of lack of authority to speak on the issue.
The controversial seal is placed every 25 meters on the cemented sidewalk covering drainage pipes on at least a two-kilometer stretch from Barangay Balabag to Barangay Manoc-Manoc. The drainage pipes are being constructed to help solve Boracay's flooding problem.
But the markings have drawn criticism from some residents of the island because they said it was inappropriate for Barbers to put his name on the sidewalk as the project is funded by taxpayers’ money.
Barbers earlier said it was the project contractor’s idea, and not his, to put the markings with his name on the sidewalk.
He claimed that those criticizing him when his named appeared on the etched seal are “only a few people.”
“There are resort owners there who find nothing wrong with it,” he said. He did not name these resort owners he was referring to.
He also said he was not evading the issue, reacting to an earlier report that he could not be reached for comment.