When Christina Garcia Frasco left the helm of the Department of Tourism, it wasn’t quite a farewell tour—more like a change in itinerary. Now appointed Presidential Adviser for Sustainable and Resilient Communities by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., the former tourism chief is swapping travel brochures for the less glamorous but arguably more urgent business of resilience policy.
In a statement on March 16, Frasco thanked the President for his trust and expressed enthusiasm for the new assignment, which places her closer to the administration’s broader development agenda.
If tourism was about attracting visitors, the new role is about fortifying the destinations themselves, particularly the communities that anchor the country’s economic and environmental stability.
During her tenure at the DOT, Frasco framed tourism as more than leisure. It was, she argued, an ecosystem powered by local entrepreneurs, cultural stewards, and regional economies.
The industry’s revival efforts after pandemic-era disruptions relied heavily on collaboration between national agencies, local governments, and private sector partners.
That experience may prove relevant in her new portfolio. Community resilience, after all, increasingly intersects with economic strategy. In an archipelago regularly tested by typhoons, climate risks, and infrastructure gaps, strengthening local systems—from livelihoods to disaster preparedness—has become both a governance challenge and a business imperative.
Frasco acknowledged the tourism workers and stakeholders who helped sustain the industry and its millions of jobs, noting that their dedication shaped her approach to public service. The subtext: the networks built in tourism could translate into partnerships for resilience.
Her new advisory role may not come with the glamour of destination campaigns, but it carries a broader brief. If tourism taught Frasco how communities welcome the world, resilience policy may test how well they withstand it.
Either way, the next leg of her public service journey looks less like a holiday, and more like nation-building.
