IDFI still to run Dinagyang '09 minus Jimena
Jimena
The Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation Inc. (IDFI) will still run the affairs in the yearly Dinagyang festival, which placed Iloilo City in the local and international tourism map, but no longer with Mr. Ben Jimena, its known executive director.
Jimena yesterday declared that he is no longer working as the executive director of the foundation. He resigned from his position last February 2008 after some members of the city council questioned the foundation's financial statement and the manner they run the affair.
Jimena, however, said he will work as the head of the city's tourism office in the 2009 Dinagyang festival. The position as executive director was scrapped by the foundation after his resignation. "I resigned because the position is "too hot," Jimena said.
He also clarified that his resignation was not made as a bargaining agreement for the members of the city council to approve the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between the foundation and the city government.
Jimena said nothing will change on his effort to promote the festival. The Dinagyang festival is already in the hall of fame being adjudged as the best tourism event in the country for the three consecutive years by the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP).
The city tourism officer said his resignation as IDFI executive director will not in any way affect the tourism promotion plan for the Dinagyang festival. It is still the same, said Jimena.