On the DOT
By Atty. Helen J. Camarista

Iloilo golf and country club gears for centennial year 2007

The Iloilo Golf and Country Club, Inc. (IGCCI) based in Santa Barbara , Iloilo some 15 kilometers from Iloilo City is gearing for its centennial celebration in 2007. The biggest pre-centennial event   is the 8 th Bamboo Tee Invitational Golf Tournament on March 11-13, 2005 , reports Mr. Lito S. Duran, Media Relations In-Charge. He said this tournament is the signature event of   IGCCI for 2005.

Four hundred (400) golfing enthusiasts from Manila and all over Visayas and Mindanao and even Balikbayans are expected to see action in the tournament as they partner with IGCCI members in what promises to be an exciting golf event of the year. Indeed, over and above its sports value, the 8 th Bamboo Tee Invitational will be an avenue through which Iloilo can be promoted as an attractive investment, business and tourism destination as well.  

Iloilo Golf and Country Club's claim to pre-eminence in golfing history is now undisputed. A rubber golf ball and a write-up in an international publication way back in 1983 both attested to this.   Golf Digest, in 1983 Asia's largest English golfing publication featured in its August issue Santa Barbara Golf Course in a four-page article as the oldest course in the Philippines and one of the oldest clubs in Asia.

Barry Girling, writer, TV critic, columnist and correspondent based in Hong Kong settled the controversy over which Philippine golf club has the honor of being the oldest established. The best evidence – a rubber golf ball found in the lake of No. 10 hole while being dredged in May 1980. The golf ball, in use circa 1899-1910 proved the early beginning of golf in Iloilo and attested to the history of the Iloilo Golf and Country Club.

“The dredging of the old-style rubber ball tended to confirm Iloilo 's claim to historical fame. Club and tourism officials in Mindanao 's Zamboanga now admit that their club is merely one of the oldest in the Philippines . O course, both Iloilo and Zamboanga devotees deny that   the Manila Golf Club (founded 1901) had any claim at all, as it had changed its course from Caloocan to Makati after World War II, thus, losing its title as the oldest surviving golf course in the Philippines , Girling wrote.  

***

The 11-point hospitality service and tourism industry code of ethics

Former colleague retired tourism operations officer Edwin Gatia who is now US-based sent us through email the following code of ethics of the hospitality service and tourism industry. Our local stakeholders may or may not agree with some of these but their conscience should be their best judge.

• We acknowledge Ethics and Morality as inseparable elements of doing business and will test every decision against the highest standards of honesty, legality, fairness, impunity and conscience;

• We will conduct ourselves personally and collectively at all times so as to bring credit to the service and tourism industry at large;

• We will concentrate our time, energy, and resources on the improvement of our own products and services and we will not denigrate our competition in the pursuit of our own success;

• We will treat all guests equally regardless of race, creed, nationality, religion, or sex;

• We will deliver all standards of service and product with total consistency to every guest;

• We will provide a totally safe and sanitary environment at all times for every guest and employee;

• We will strive constantly, in words, actions, and deeds to develop and maintain the highest level of trust, honesty, and understanding among guests, clients, employees, employers, and the public at large;

• We will provide every employee at every level all of the   knowledge, training, equipment and motivation required to perform his/her assigned tasks according to our established standards;

• We will guarantee that every employee at every level will have the same opportunity to perform, advance, and will be evaluated against the same standards as all employees engaged in the same or similar tasks;

• We will actively and consciously work to protect and preserve our environment and natural resources in all that we do;

• We will seek a fair and honest profit, no more, no less.