Italians to help promote Cebu, to give aid to local deaf center

The country’s food, beaches and the people’s warm and friendly attitude will lure Italian tourists, an official of the Italiani Associati Cebu Inc. (IAC) said yesterday.

“The country should make use of its potentials of tapping and attracting more Italian and other European tourists,” IAC president Walter Finzi de Vita told Sun.Star Cebu.

The country’s beaches are “better” than those in Thailand, he noted.

“Filipinos even speak better English. Your bea-ches are more beautiful. But how come Thailand’s tourism industry is way bigger than the Philippines’?” he said.

He noted that accessibility is one challenge in attracting European tourists due to the “lack or shortage” of flights from the country to Europe.

History

IAC is an organization of Italians in Cebu that seeks to promote Italian businesses, tourism, culture and relationship with various sectors in the country.

De Vita said Italy and Philippines have a long history.

He said Italian chronicler Antonio Pigafetta, Ferdinand Magellan’s second official in command, was the “first Italian tourist” who set foot in Cebu.

“We would like to maintain our warm rapport with the locals,” he said.

Pigafetta’s monument, which stands on the Plaza Independencia, speaks of Italian presence in the city, he said.

He added that the Italian community in Cebu is keen on helping promote the city and the country more.

He said Italian businesses and investments in the country can grow “a hundred times more” and Italian tourists will increase by promoting the country in Italy.

De Vita also revealed that IAC solicited some P1 million worth of 30 pieces of hearing appliances from multinational company, Amplifon Italia Spa, as part of its “humanitarian” efforts.

The hearing-impaired indigent children at the Mission for the Deaf Center in Banilad, Cebu City will benefit from the donation, he said.

The Mission for the Deaf was first opened in Italy and was brought to Cebu some 20 years ago. (ALC/SunStar Cebu)

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IT group accepts 17 new members

THE Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (Cedf-IT) welcomed 17 new members during its annual general membership meeting at the Cebu City Marriott Hotel last week.

Cedf-IT president Sabino Dapat said membership recruitment and retention is important for the organization.

A non-stock, non-profit IT organization composed of stakeholders from industry, the academe and the government, Cedf-IT grew as an organization from 64 last year to 92 as of March this year, Dapat said.

“Our membership profile presently includes 41 from the academe, 36 from the industry, five from non-government organizations and 10 from the government,” he said in his speech.

He added that Cedf-it affiliates also grew in number with 13 members from Manila, three from Oriental Negros, five from Bohol, and one each from Ormoc, Cagayan de Oro and Bacolod.

But Cedf-IT didn’t meet its target of 105 members last year.

“But we are taking that direction now,” he said.

“For our organization to move forward, we need constant growth of revenues to fund our operation,” he said.

Challenge

With 92 members, only one third of Cedf-it’s yearly budget has sure funding.

“The challenge is to find funding for the rest of our budget. We experienced some shortage of funding last year and it threatened our operation,” he said.

Most of Cedf-it’s funding comes from international funding agencies, he said.

Another challenge, Dapat said, was acquiring “solid manpower” and a management team. Research and development activities should be improved also, he added.

Bonifacio Belen, executive director of Cedf-IT, recalled that four years ago, there were some 2,200 graduates IT graduates, but only 100 to 300 of them were appropriately employed.

Cedf-IT saw the need to find ways to intervene, to increase employment in the sector. (ALC/SunStar Cebu)

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