By Annabel Petinglay
ILOILO CITY, (PNA) –- Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. said he is interested in the project of the Dept. of Tourism Regional Office 6 urging local government units to plant one variety of flower that would serve as their identity.
Defensor said although this project could not be incorporated in his ART (Action for Regreening and Transformation) program that aims 1.5 million trees to be planted in the entire province this year, yet he is interested to support the DOT program for the sake of tourism.
The DOT project envisions to make the entire Western Visayas region look colorful with the flowers planted on the roadsides to lure more tourists.
This is also part of the marketing strategy of the DOT “Experience Western Visayas first” where local residents are encouraged to tour the region first before they plan of seeing and going to other places.
DOT Regional Dir. Helen Catalbas said that she is encouraging LGUs to chose a flower that is commonly seen in their locality and plant some more of this to become their flower of identity and even signify unity in the community.
She even called this project, “Western Visayas: Color it Rainbow” looking forward to the different colorful flowers when it blooms.
Youth organizations and other tourism stakeholders are also being encouraged to support the program.