A Widow’s Mission to Make More Fun in the Philippines

“Life throws challenges and every challenge comes with rainbows and lights to conquer it.” – Amit Ray

She drank with tribes in Bukidnon, even if she was allergic to alcohol. She ate the ritual food they served, mindful not to gag when she scooped a half-cooked pig that had been slaughtered for the occasion and served the eyes of an animal that she downed with vodka.

A personal tragedy that befell Bernadette Romulo Puyat turned out to be a silver lining in an otherwise bitter circumstance. The Secretary to the Department of Tourism became a widow 12 years ago. She was just 39 years old. Besides having to cope with the loss of her husband, she also had a new boss in the Department of Agriculture where she had been working as an Undersecretary. The change in administration from Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to Benigno Aquino III meant new management and a new working culture; was put in charge of women farmers, the youth and indigenous tribe and had initial trepidations that farmers would have a hard time connecting to her because of how this certified city girl looked: fair-skinned and not inclined to the outdoors and the heat. She feared a disconnect.

But, despite apprehensions and her assessed limitations, Berna addressed the task head on, meeting farm folks around the country. She visited over a hundred farms in the most far-flung areas that didn’t even have a mobile signal. She went among them without identifying her position or title, only saying that she was from the Department of Agriculture. This urbanite joined the women farmers in planting and harvesting, talking while they worked together in the fields. Her visits became immersions into the life and culture of the people; she walked the length and breadth of the footpaths in Mount Kanlaon to harvest Robusta beans with the coffee farmers. She stepped into the muddy rice paddies in Kalinga and worked with the planters. She participated in a watery tug-of-war ritual of the indigenous people in Cordillera, dressed as one of them.

The second amongst the five children of Filipino politician and diplomat, Alberto Romulo and Lovely Tecson, Berna attended the University of the Philippines Diliman where she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Economics degree. I first met this petite, “crush ng bayan” co-ed when we were both members of the U.P. Junior Finance Association, an organization of students aimed to foster education advancement in the field of finance. I remember her being one of the more popular members because of her natural-born charm and beauty; and being a nameless nobody without a pedigreed brand attached to my name, I can only gaze her from afar during general membership meetings every Thursday breaks.

This self-confessed nerd later taught in the UP School of Economics for 14 years after completing a master’s degree with the equivalent of a magna cum laude. She later got an invitation to pursue a doctoral degree, but decided to join politics in 2004 by attempting to become the First District Representative of Quezon City. However, she lost the elections to Vincent Crisologo by 2,000 votes with Puyat readily conceding Crisologo's victory and deciding to thereafter spend more time with her family instead. Her brief political experience made her more aware of the conditions of the people affected by poverty, as a result, she put up "Botika ng Bayan" (People's Pharmacy) across some areas in Metro Manila to provide affordable medicines or generic drugs. Later, she was invited to work with the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) as Deputy Cabinet Secretary and Economic Consultant during the tenure of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, before being asked to became the Undersecretary for Special Concerns at the Department of Agriculture under the former Secretary Arthur Yap. As Agriculture Undersecretary, she ensured that foreign grants were directed accordingly to projects intended for farmers. She also focused on working with the agricultural concerns of women from the rural community that include financing technical support in provision of seedlings, planting materials, fermentation boxes and processing equipment for the Manobo women farmers, promotion and marketing of agricultural products for the coffee farmers across Kalinga, Bukidnon and Mt. Kanlaon; and pili, cacao and cassava farmers across Camarines Sur. She also took part in the establishment of an organic village for indigenous women farmers in Davao.

In 2018, following the resignation of Wanda Teo due to her alleged involvement with issues surrounding a Php60 million tourism advertisement placement on People's Television Network (PTV), Bernadette Romulo-Puyat was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte to become the country’s 20th Secretary of the Department of Tourism. Her experience in Department of Agriculture translated into the agri-tourism thrust she focused during her term as Tourism Secretary, where visitors can visit farms or ranches and experience them first-hand. Moreover, having been exposed to the various indigenous rituals around the country first hand, she also delved into heritage tourism. To this end, she tapped millennials to partner and participate in promoting the country. She has consulted government officials, past and present whose advice and wisdom she values and counts on the goodwill of her network to help in realizing the plans for showing the best of the Philippines through public-private partnerships.

But her biggest achievement of the Department under her administration is having begun a movement on sustainable tourism. Under her watch, the agency has imbued the advocacy of rehabilitating the nation’s beautiful destinations, while inspiring tourists, stakeholders and citizens to act more responsibly when travelling in order to preserve our natural wonders for the next generation. She has applied the concept of sustainable tourism in the way she promotes the country. Indeed, Berna has epitomized the role of a transformational figure as Philippine government official. She continues to live for our country on a mission to make the Philippines truly more fun.