Funds for Miss Universe pageant

BARRING any hitches, next year’s Miss Universe pageant will be held in our country on Jan. 30, 2017.

This will be the third time that the Philippines will host what is widely considered the most popular beauty contest in the world.

The first was in 1974 when the country was under martial law, and the second was in 1994 when Fidel Ramos was our President.

Earlier, President Duterte reportedly balked at the idea of holding the event here saying it is not one of his administration’s priorities.

But, according to Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo, he changed his mind after getting the assurance that no government funds will be spent on it.

Teo said the private sector would shoulder the estimated $11 million (or roughly P495 million) that will be incurred in hosting the contest.

She expressed confidence that the expense will be worth it because the event will put the Philippines on the international tourism map and attract more tourists to our shores.

An executive order from Malacañang is expected to be signed soon to formalize the hosting chore and set in motion the coordination activities with the government offices that will be involved in the project.

Time is of the essence in the preparations because the event is less than six months away.

Expenses

Teo’s statement that the government will not shell out any money for the contest is wishful thinking.

For one, the government has to mobilize its law enforcement forces to ensure that the Miss Universe staff, beauty contestants and other foreign visitors are safe while they’re in the country.

This task cannot be delegated to private security groups or personnel of the private companies that will sponsor the contest.

Strict and elaborate security measures have to be put in place to prevent terrorist groups or lawless elements from doing something nasty to attract attention to the causes they’re promoting.

Considering the pageant’s global attraction, all it takes is one bloody incident to happen during or close to the pageant and the Philippines will be in prime time news all over the world.

The bad publicity will spell disaster for our tourism industry.

Bear in mind also that when the government’s human and material resources are mobilized to provide security and protective services, considerable sums of money are spent for, among others, food allowance, transportation costs and purchase of equipment and facilities.

And because a big number of foreign tourists, including international media are coming to town, the government may have to refurbish the Naia, re-asphalt the roads that lead to the pageant venue, temporarily relocate human street eyesores, and undertake related “beautification” activities to present a good image for the country.

Solicitation

The $11 million that Teo cited as anticipated expense for hosting the pageant can, in theory, be raised from the private sector.

She said Japanese businessman and Tiger Resort chair Kazuo Okada and business tycoon Henry Sy have already committed to contribute to the kitty.

Surely, the country’s major tour and travel companies, telecommunications companies, airlines and other business entities that will profit from more tourist arrivals will be interested in putting in money to meet the $11 million expense.

Whether that interest will translate into its monetary equivalent remains to be seen.

Pledges sometimes have the uncanny way of getting watered down or, worse, forgotten.

It is also not clear if the $11 million is on the high side or low side, or provisions have been made for a possible overrun.

It is common knowledge that allocated costs in big ticket international events tend to go overboard due to unexpected changes in plans or sudden upward adjustments in the price of materials and services.

Well and good if the private companies that Teo thinks will be interested in sponsoring the event will generously open their coffers to meet the $11 million quota.

But what if, for one reason or another, the sponsorship contributions fall short of the $11 million or the costs of staging the contest exceeds $11 million? Who will make up for the shortfall?

In case this happens, the government may be forced to step into the picture and realign some budgetary allocations, probably of the Department of Tourism (DOT), to give financial relief.

Intervention

Thus, much as President Duterte may not want to spend government funds for the pageant, he may have to backtrack because a poorly handled pageant will surely give a black eye to the Philippines’ image and adversely affect our tourism industry.

The possibility of the government getting financially or logistically involved is not far-fetched; it is borne by the experience in the two Miss Universe contests that the country earlier hosted.

Both events suffered from bud- getary overruns.

In 1974, with former first lady Imelda Marcos as principal sponsor of the event, tapping government funds was no problem because the conjugal dictatorship had a free run on the taxpayers’ money.

In 1994, the DOT and several government-owned and -controlled corporations pitched in with their own funds in the guise of promotional or advertising expenses to save the day.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that history will not repeat itself. The 2017 Miss Universe pageant is not worth going through that experience again.