Woman On A Mission

The new Tourism Secretary, Berna Romulo-Puyat, says the Philippines, with all its assets, is the easiest to market—and she is just happy to be given the opportunity to lead the efforts

- Chit L Lijauco

Once when she was still an Undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA), Bernadette “Berna” Romulo-Puyat was asked if she would want to be the department’s secretary someday. The question did not even faze her. The answer was “no.” However, as certain as she was of what she did not want in terms of government positions, she also knew what appealed to her.

“But do you know what I would like to be one day?” the petite and pretty, passionate and perspicacious public servant told the people she was talking to. “I want to become a DOT [Department of Tourism] Secretary. I believe that anyone who is in that position is lucky because he or she gets to promote a country that is so easy to sell.” She initially named two reasons: “Look at the people, we’re the most hospitable. And we can all speak English so there is no language barrier.”

To support her position, she continued, “A Filipino does not even say ‘Mabuhay’ in greeting. He says ‘Kain na [Have something to eat]’. Hospitality is in our nature and just the aspect of people makes selling the country winnable.

“After the people you have our beautiful beaches and other destination spots. And then our food! We have graduated from just balut-and-adobo cuisine. We’ve gone beyond the fear factor angle of our food. With our cuisine’s exposure in Madrid Fusión Manila [the only Asian edition of an international gastronomic congress] and Filipino chefs doing well abroad, the world is now aware of our delicious fare.

“And last, our fashion. More and more women have taken to wearing local, not just during Linggo ng Wika [National Language Week]. I started as early as when I was in the DA, when I discovered the