SANTA CRUZ
NEWS AND UPDATES
MAYOR RED PUSHES FOR A CREATIVE SANTA CRUZ IN NEWLY RELEASED TOURISM, CULTURE, AND ARTS DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
September 2, 2022 | Mayor's Office
Mayor Marisa Red-Martinez formally presented on Thursday, September 1, 2022 the Santa Cruz Integrated Tourism, Culture, and Arts Development Strategy before a joint meeting of the Santa Cruz Tourism and Santa Cruz Culture and Arts councils held at the Mayor’s Office. Envisioning Santa Cruz as a hub for cross-cultural encounters and multi-ecosystem experience, the development plan seeks to enable and empower the municipality’s creative industry and tourism sectors through joint and collaborative undertakings that will be implemented across four strategic interventions: first, the designing of public spaces and facilities reflecting the local Moriones heritage and tradition; second, the capacity building of local stakeholders through trainings, grants, and competitions; third, the documentation, transmission, and sharing of knowledge and local practices, destinations, and events; and fourth, the digitalization of tourism marketing, promotions, and in the future, client services.
In her message during the joint council meeting, Mayor Marisa Red urged the participating Sangguniang Bayan members, Councilors Emil Alvarez and Santa Cruz Sangguniang Kabataan Federation President Councilor Dolan Kirby Murillo to appropriate the necessary public funds that will be used to rollout an aggressive culture, arts, and tourism campaign. Mayor Red also stressed that the ultimate goal of tourism development is to generate livelihood and revenues for tourism enterprises while conserving the town’s rich natural resources and protecting the municipality’s tourism assets.
Mayor Red likewise encouraged the barangay captains of the town’s key tourism destinations to establish the systems that will help realize the goals and objectives articulated in the development plan and at the same time cooperate with the municipal government’s efforts in maintaining environmental safeguards such as proper waste management and disposal and the overall safety and convenience of tourists visiting the municipality.
By integrating into a shared development blueprint the creative and tourism industry sectors, the local government hopes to seize the momentum generated by the enactment of Republic Act No. 11904 or the Creative Industries Development Act of 2022 which recently lapsed into law in July 2022 and collaborate with broader networks that can strengthen the competitiveness of local creative sectors.
As articulated in the development plan, Santa Cruz stands much to gain from a unified creatives and tourism direction with the Moriones cultural heritage at its foundation. With a plan in hand, the local government hopes to generate broad-based support for the implementation of its component activities.
The same development plan was also presented by representatives of the Municipal Tourism Office during the two-day Provincial Tourism Stakeholders Workshop by the Provincial Government held in Boac, Marinduque on August 30-31, 2022. Participants of the workshop applauded the Santa Cruz presentation and encouraged the Municipal Tourism Office to realize and sustain the vision outlined by Mayor Marisa Red-Martinez.
In her comments during the joint council meetings, Dr. Susan Pineda, Associate Dean of the Marinduque State College (MSC) and a member of the Tourism as well as Culture and Arts councils, congratulated Mayor Red’s comprehensive vision for the tourism industry of Santa Cruz and volunteered her own expertise and capabilities through collaborations with the local government.
With the tourism industry as well as the performing arts and “gig” economy workers being the hardest hit by a still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Red will be lobbying to various government agencies, the private sector, and other entities that can renew and re-energize tourism in Santa Cruz under the new normal in travel and under the umbrella of a globally growing cultural economy.