By DANNY O. SAGUN

WHY hold that health summit in Pampanga when they could well have held it anywhere within the province and save money besides?

This is the foremost question in the minds of many including this corner when healthmen including local officials led by Gov. Amado Espino trooped to Oxford Hotel in Clark to attend that summit last week. The reason given? The sponsor was responsible for choosing the venue, and for the participants “to be able to concentrate.”

We now recall those times when the sangguniang panlalawigan scheduled budget hearings in Baguio City or even in faraway Tagaytay so that the members of the board and their resource persons including heads of the various departments would “be able to concentrate” on their tasks.

If the hearings were held anywhere in Pangasinan or at the Capitol itself, they could not have their much-needed focus? Are they pulling anyone’s leg?

Holding those hearings in expensive hotels  outside of Pangasinan costs the province a lot. On the other hand, the province saves a lot on expenses for travel, accomodation, food, etc. for the board members and their staff, the SP secretariat, and the department heads if the hearings are done right at the SP hall or in a simple venue somewhere in the province. The money thus saved is better used for more pressing needs.

But maybe the province is really awash with money – or doesn’t lack the so-called sponsors to foot the bill

* * * *

We may agree that the health summit sponsor is responsible for that activity and it is free to choose the venue. However, we do not believe that the province’s leadership cannot do anything as to suggest a place in Pangasinan, say Hundred Islands, or the hotels in Dagupan or Urdaneta, or the resorts in San Fabian or in other coastal towns whose resorts offer competitive services.

If we did that, then the sponsor (USAID?) could have better appreciated the capability of the province to host such big event, or would have seen the beauty of this place and eventually would help in placing Pangasinan in the tourism or business map. We think the present administration has that in mind, but here we missed the opportunity.

Concentration among the participants is impossible if the summit is held here, so they thought. That was the same alibi by the provincial board for those budget hearings. If the summit is held somewhere in the province, the participants would be tempted to go home, or go somewhere else, or not return at all.

                                                * * * *

Past experiences showed otherwise. Whether a meeting or seminar is held here or in another place, it is the attitude of the participants that matters, not the nearness or distance from here to the venue.

There have been many stories going around about participants, say a mayor who reports to a conference on the first day, then makes his exit after a few hours for so many excuses. In reality, some conference or seminar participants make those activities as their excuse for leaving their offices or their homes for their gallivanting schemes. More often than not, they go to casinos, or spend stolen moments with their mistresses. And don’t anyone tell us we’re wrong

A meeting held far from this place is no guarantee that all the participants would be that serious or religious to attend it from the opening part up to the closing ceremony.

Yet, a meeting held right here may even attract more participants and draw more interest, aside from the fact that money spent for the purpose is circulated right here, and in effect, would have benefitted Pangasinan more.