CoA: Develop Corregidor

It’s no longer fun in Corregidor Island?

This describes the audit observations made by the Commission on Audit (CoA) as it urged the Corregidor Foundation Inc. to make moves to develop Corregidor as one of the country’s largest tourist draws just like Singapore’s Sentosa island.

Auditors said the CFI should consider inviting more investors for the opening of new hotels, a golf course, water recreational facilities and other tourist attractions to draw more visitors.

In the 2018 CFI annual audit report released this week, CoA lamented the fading popularity of Corregidor as a tourist destination which is endowed with natural beauty and World War II relics that tell countless moving stories about the heroism of Filipino and American soldiers during the Japanese occupation.

“However, even with its immense historical value, Corregidor Island needs substantial upgrading before it can be marketed with the slogan, ‘It’s more fun in Corregidor island,” noted the Commission on Audit in the 2018 Corregidor Foundation Inc. Annual Audit Report released early this week.

CoA said the 5.49 square kilometer island located a few kilometers from Metro Manila is losing its appeal as a tourist spot mainly because of various attractions that other tourist destinations in the country but Corregidor lacked.

“CFI’s lack of infrastructure and additional attractions, lack of promotion and lack of funds resulted in the failure to tap the island’s immesne potential as a tourist destination as manifested by the declining results of operations,” CoA explained.

State auditors noted that Corregidor Island belongs to “this genre” of Philippine islands that are “naturally rich, culturally diverse and historically precious.”

Tourism operations in the Corregidor Island is being managed by the CFI which was created by the Philippine tourism Authority in 1987 with the main objective of maintaining and developing it as an internaitional and local tourist destination.

CoA noted that in the past five years CFI’s development plans were “not translated into projects.”

“To date, there is only one hotel and one transportation service to and from the island. Tourist attraction is confined to the ruins or relics of World War II,” audit examiners said.