Tingog Rep Challenges Tourism Secretary on Budget Performance
In Manila, Tingog party-list Representative Jude Acidre intensified his criticism against Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco on August 1, 2025. Acidre urged Secretary Frasco to focus on defending her agency’s record during the upcoming 2026 national budget hearings instead of dismissing concerns as political attacks. The lawmaker emphasized the need for transparency and accountability regarding the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) performance.
Acidre’s remarks follow his earlier suggestion that tourism’s absence in President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) signals underperformance by the agency led by Frasco, who is also the spouse of Cebu’s 5th District Representative Duke Frasco. “If these are indeed true and verifiable, then she should have nothing to fear from the coming deliberations. Transparency should be welcomed, not evaded,” Acidre stated.
Budget Scrutiny and Accountability Concerns
Acidre highlighted past Commission on Audit (COA) reports pointing to the DOT and the Tourism Promotions Board’s (TPB) poor budget utilization and lack of accountability in 2022. According to these findings, only 65.32 percent of the allocated funds were obligated, with P396.346 million in obligations unpaid by the year-end. Additionally, P483.812 million in fund transfers for completed programs remained unliquidated due to insufficient documentation.
It remains unclear whether these financial issues happened under former tourism chief Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, the current Secretary Garcia-Frasco, or both. “That’s not just poor planning — it has real consequences, including reduced budgets moving forward,” Acidre said. He added that no government agency, regardless of its role, is exempt from oversight. “Oversight is not an attack — it’s a responsibility. And when the President himself made no mention of tourism in his State of the Nation Address, that silence is worth noting. It invites the question: is the Department of Tourism truly making the impact we expect of it?”
Political Tensions and Budget Disputes
The dispute began after Acidre challenged the DOT to improve following the omission of tourism in the midterm SONA. Meanwhile, Frasco’s husband recently declared himself an independent lawmaker after abstaining from voting for Leyte Representative Martin Romualdez as House Speaker at the opening of the 20th Congress. Frasco expressed dissatisfaction with how the 2025 national budget was managed under Romualdez’s leadership.
In response, Secretary Frasco accused Acidre and fellow pro-administration legislator La Union Representative Paolo Ortega of targeting the agency due to her husband’s stance against the House leadership. She maintained that despite Congress reducing the tourism budget in 2024 and 2025, the department continued to perform well. “Congress holds the power of the purse. But when that power is used to defund and punish a top economic driver like tourism, it directly harms our country and our people,” Frasco said.
Acidre countered by reminding that Rep. Frasco served as Deputy Speaker during the budget deliberations. “If the allocation was unfair, why did he not raise the issue then?” he asked. “Let’s be clear: this is not about personalities, loyalties, or partisanship. It’s about public service.”
For more news and updates on tourism budget performance, visit Filipinokami.com.
