Contributed by Tristan Paris
“No, hanggang ngayon naman, still,” Chief Operating Officer and Vice-Chairperson of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), Mark Lapid firmly said no on running for Senate in the upcoming 2028 elections. He declared this during a meetup with the media and content creators for a discussion regarding the current status and development of Philippine tourism.
Despite being told that he is among Pulse Asia’s top winnable candidates for 2028, the actor-politician expressed his gratefulness to everyone who continues to support him. He also believes that it has something to do with his father, Senator Lito Lapid, who won the 11th seat in the Senate’s “Magic 12” last 2025 midterm elections.
“Right now, there is no decision yet—No muna, kasi focused kami sa trabaho namin ngayon to finish yung mga development ng mga tourism destination kasi nga, tumataas yung prices natin, bumababa yung tourist arrival so we have to do something about it—Na dun kami nakatuon, yun focus namin,” Lapid said.
During the press meetup, the TIEZA Chief Operating Officer also tackled the issues that the country is facing regarding tourist arrivals — that the budgeting issue involving tourism and product promotions was not made a priority due to the lack of funding on areas such as the need to expand the runways of airports, and how challenging it is for tourists to not be able to directly reach their destinations.
Lapid revealed that airlines have said that they are affected by the passenger capacity, the flight time of the airplanes, and the fact that propellers are no longer in Manila. The tourists are then needed to take a detour to Clark just to ride one, making their travel time even longer. He also noted that airlines are having a hard time recovering costs due to the maximum capacity most propellers have being only around 80 passengers compared to an airbus that can fit 200 to 300 passengers.
“The only way to address it is to really expand all the runways ng island so that mapababa nila yung cost because yung time, plus, ang isang key component kasi na sinasabi namin aside from expanding the runway is yung mga ibang foreign airline can go directly to the destinations—they don’t have to go to Manila anymore. Halimbawa, kung Korea ka, you have to go to El Nido, from Korea, diretso ka na ng El Nido, kaya na nung eroplano nila na mag land ka don, so I think that that would be more convenient kasi di ba, ang issue, bago ka makapunta sa mga destinasyon natin, which is we’re an archipelago, di ba? Islands tayo, so dadaan ka muna ng Manila, ganiyan, then before you fly papunta dun sa destination, ilang sakay ka. So it’s very convenient, eh kung yung connecting mo di pa mag tugma-tugma di ba? Tapos, crowded pa tayo sa NAIA, dahil diyan lahat ang bagsak, so yan ang pinu-push namin na from the country kung saan ka galing, go direct to the destination, para pagbaba mo, andun ka na, mas convenient, more cost-efficient,” Lapid explained how it could be much easier and cost-efficient if tourists can reach their destinations directly rather than having to go from one point to another.
According to Lapid, Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA)’s main role is that they are the mandated infrastructure arm and investment arm of the Department of Tourism (DOT)—from all of the infrastructure projects, to all of the emerging tourist destinations, to sports tourism, to medical tourism,and agricultural tourism— all of which gain tax incentives to further help entice investors to invest on Philippine tourism. Other than that, Lapid shared that in TIEZA, they also rehabilitate heritage sites such as churches that have significant markers under the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).
“Hindi tayo poorly promoted, I would say. Kulang tayo sa promotion because yung budget natin,” Lapid compared the Philippines’ promotion budget to the budget of neighboring countries — how the country’s budget remains significantly smaller than countries like Singapore and Thailand. In line with this, he also explained how TIEZA is helping prepare the country to be prepared before promotions happen such as making sure that there are better first aid facilities, tourist rest areas, public restrooms, floating docks, and esplanades.
“Wish ko lang, please, don’t lose hope sa bansa natin,” said Lapid, giving notes on how powerful communication can help the country’s tourism thrive even better, and hoping that better connection and collaboration between people, especially the youth, and the Philippine Government happen as everything goes hand-in-hand in making the Philippines a better country.
