Wishing all the best for Eatof

I must admit I had so much fun giving a tour of Cebu’s past through the galleries of Museo Sugbo, the Cebu provincial museum. The occasion was the visit yesterday of governors, tourism directors and other delegates from South Korea, Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Mongolia.

They are here in Cebu until Saturday to attend the 11th meeting of the East Asian Inter-Regional Tourism Forum (Eatof) hosted by the Gov. Gwendolyn  Garcia and the province of Cebu, which has pulled all stops to make the event a success.

It was awe-inspiring to see governors, deputy governors and tourism heads of these countries listening intently as their interpreters translated every bit of information about Cebu’s prehistory and history that are showcased at the museum. This was quite a surprise for me given the busy nature of their work. I thought beforehand that the tour would just be a quick one. It turned out to be more of an exchange as the governors posed questions and added information about their own places as we went around the 12 museum galleries.

Eatof was born in 1999 through the initiative of Gangwon, Korea. It is anchored on developing international tourism competitiveness among provinces that are not national capitals or are located outside the capital cities. All Eatof members, numbering 12 provinces now, have been meeting regularly since the first assembly in Gangwon in 2000.

This year it is Cebu’s turn to shine, under the theme “Celebrating 12 years of Enduring Cooperation and Collaboration,” with events held at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).

Yesterday’s tour of the museum was made more memorable with the 10 heads of delegate provinces tossing P10 coins at the Well of Love, Wisdom and Good Fortune located at the rear end of the former prison complex that was adaptively reused by Governor Garcia and converted into the provincial museum in 2008. This well is one of four that used to be the main sources of water for the prison. Nobody knows when these were covered up but this particular one was accidentally rediscovered in 2009 as work progressed to inaugurate more galleries of the museum.

It was fun to see the governors and deputy governors, each tossing a coin at the count of five, with a warning that whoever tossed his or her coin on a wooden pail instead of the water below would now find love, wisdom, or good fortune. With their backs turned as they tossed. I bet all the other delegates held their breath.

Lady luck smiled at everyone as all the coins missed the wooden pail and landed down the 80-foot deep well whose waters, due to the rains of late, has almost reached the brim.

Then it drizzled, eventually leading to a brief but, for some, drenching downpour, despite the many museum umbrellas that sprouted just as suddenly. The Malaysian and Indonesian delegates smiled and told me this was a blessing. So did the Koreans and the Japanese.

We really have so much in common, despite the distance.

And this is what Eatof seeks to harness, our unity amid the undisputed fact that tourism is the major economic driving force of the 21st century.

Congratulations, Eatof, for another fruitful year, this time replete with more love, wisdom and good fortune!

Source - inquirer.net