Use P3.6 B travel tax proceeds to build toilets, gov’t told

Manila, Philippines – Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto has urged the Philippine government on Thursday to use part of its P3.6 annual travel tax collection to build roadside restrooms that could be used by local and foreign tourists alike.

The senator noted that on many feedback surveys, the absence of clean toilets has been listed as major complaint by travelers.

“When a tourist comes out of the plane, the first destination he goes to is the restroom. So if we believe in the power of first impression, then we should make restrooms presentable,” Recto told tourism officials headed by Secretary Ramon Jimenez on Thursday’s Senate budget hearing

The DOT and its three attached agencies have proposed P3.8 billion budget for next year.

Recto said government should tap travel tax payments made by departing passengers, in building more restrooms “possibly under a joint venture scheme with local governments, state colleges, civic groups, tourism associations.”

He pointed out that the government collects an average of about P10 million in travel tax daily, which he thinks is sufficient enough to build several comfort rooms.

Among the priorities should be building toilets along national highways, where the Philippines has a dismal record of about one toilet for every 1,000 kilometers of highway, which Recto claimed was said to be “one of the lowest in the world.”

He says one only has to travel the whole length of the Pan Philippine Highway from Aparii to General Santos or Zamboanga to see the lack of toilet facilities owned and maintained by the government.

With the Philippines targeting 8.2 million foreign visitors and 51.7 million domestic tourists next year – which has been declared as Visit Philippines Year, the senator said then all the more should the country build more restrooms which can cater to more tourists.

While commercial facilities like restaurants and gas stations have toilets, Recto said the ideal situation is that one can have access to a toilet “without having to buy a burger.”

To address the lack of “roadside comfort facilities,” the Batangueño lawmaker urged the DOT of studying the possibility of offering equity to local governments, state schools, civic groups “in building and maintaining comfort stations that can have other functions as well.”

These functions may include pasalubong centers, convenience stores or a place where people can get tourist brochures. State colleges, which have the land, can also use them as a practicum area for their HRM or hotel restaurant management students.

The senator said these facilities can be self-sustaining and income generating, adding that some malls make money out of pay-per-use toilets.

About Jeremaiah Opiniano