Tourism career officer Gonzales named Tourism Promotions Board OIC after Montano’s exit

Newly named officer-in-charge of the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) Arnold Gonzales, a career officer who has been with the Department of Tourism for the past 30 years. (Photo courtesy facebook page of Arnold Gonzales)

 

(Eagle News) — A career officer at the Department of Tourism was named as the officer-in-charge of the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) after the resignation of its chief operating officer actor Cesar Montano.

Arnold Gonzales was unanimously chosen as OIC of the Tourism Promotions Board, a government-owned corporation attached to the Department of Tourism tasked to market and promote the Philippines domestically and internationally as a world-class tourism and MICE destination.

Gonzales is a 56-year old career executive who has been with the TBP and tourism department for 30 years assigned in various posts here and abroad.

Before this, Gonzales was the OIC of the Domestic Promotions Department of the TPB.

Montano resigned from his post after the announcement by new Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat that she will seek the investigation of the controversial multi-million peso TPB project, Buhay Carinderia.

Montano gave his “courtesy resignation” to President Duterte which the latter accepted.

TPB reportedly sent checks amounting to P80 million just within a span of one month to ad agency Marylindbert International for the project although it was not yet completed.

Montano also pointed at resigned Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo who approved the checks and said that the president of the company Marylindbert and “Buhay Carinderia” project owner, Erlinda Legaspi, was a “friend” of Secretary Teo.

New Tourism chief Puyat has already suspended the project. She had already asked the Commission on Audit to look into this.