Mark Lapid declares candidacy for a Senate seat

LOBOC, BOHOL, Philippines – Chief Operations Officer Mark Tadeo Lapid of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprises Zone Authority (TIEZA) declared he will be running for a Senate seat in the 2016 elections.

Lapid, who visited this town the other day, said he will be following the footsteps of his father Senator Lito Lapid who will be eyeing for the mayoralty in Angeles City of Pampanga.

The Lapid scion had already applied for inclusion in the senatorial slate of the ruling Liberal Party headed by President Benigno Aquino III, who endorsed former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas as the party’s presidential candidate.

Lapid told Boholanos that, if elected senator, he will focus on tourism legislation, considering that tourism has already expanded to include the country’s natural resources, cruise tours, medical toursim and even agriculture, among many others.

TIEZA had already given P60 million for the improvement of the Sandugo Shrine in Tagbilaran City, said Lapid, as he also assured Loboc residents, led by Mayor Helen Calipusan Alaba, of more funds for tourism-related projects from his office.

He mentioned to them that an additional P50 million would be given for the rehabilitation of the Chocolate Hills viewing deck, plus another fund for the installation of lights along the Loboc River, both sites of which were damaged by the 2013 earthquake and the floods from typhoons last year.

Lapid, who had visited Bohol many times already to inspect tourism projects in the province, was the guest of honor for the inauguration of the rehabilitated docking facility for floating restaurants.

He further announced that the formal turnover of the completed sanitary landfill in Alburquerque town would take place on the first week of next month.

During the ceremonial ribbon-cutting ceremony, Lapid was assisted by Governor Edgar Chatto, Mayor Helen  Alaba, Vice Mayor Pablio Sumampong, the mayor’s brother former mayor Leon Calipusan, and other town officials.

Before leaving for Tagbilaran, Lapid took his lunch first with the Bohol officials on board the famous floating restaurant, sailing to Busay Falls upstream and back. Alaba thanked the TIEZA official for the assistance given to her town.