Mt Province gov’t to turn over historic Mt. Data Hotel to PTA

By Angel Baybay

The provincial government will return to the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) the management of Mount Data Hotel effective Feb. 8 this year.

Hotel manager Dolly Theodore said their staff is presently making an inventory of furniture and other serviceable equipment in preparation for the turn over.

Built in the 1960’s during the administration of the late president Ferdinand Marcos, the management of the 22 room single storey building and its premises was conveyed to the PTA through a Presidential Decree in 1977.

The hotel stands at the heart of a forested 9.19 hectare lot within the Mount Data National Park, more or less a hundred kilometres away from Baguio City.

For years the facility had been a favourite stop-over of travellers going to and from the tourist towns of Banaue and Sagada.

It also prides itself of having hosted past presidents and foreign dignitaries including historic events such as the signing of the peace accord between the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army and the late President Corazon Aquino on September 13, 1986 popularly known as the Mount Data “Sipat”.

On Feb. 8, 2006, the PTA relinquished the management and administration of the hotel and its premises to the provincial government for 10 years by virtue of a memorandum of agreement.

Sources have it that the MOA was signed after then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo expressly signified her affirmation to the undertaking as proposed by then Gov. Maximo Dalog.

Part of the MOA stipulated that the provincial government shall pay three percent of the monthly gross income to the PTA and hire the services of the hotel employees who were laid off in December 2005.

“No. The province will turn over to PTA the management of Mount Data Hotel after the MOA expires on February 8,” Gov. Leonard Mayaen said when asked if he plans to renew the contract.

“It had been 10 years but the hotel cannot even earn enough for its upkeep and pay the salary and other financial benefits of the employees. It is a losing enterprise and the provincial government could not afford that. In fact, the province is spending more or less three million pesos annually to pay the wages of the employees,” he said.

The governor added the local government unit has hired the employees separated from PTA in 2005 and assumed the responsibility of paying their retirement benefits.

Today, the hotel is manned by eighteen employees. These employees shall be assigned to various provincial government offices after the turn-over of the hotel.