BUTUAN CITY – The city government here, along with the City Tourism Council (CTC), formulated a proper planning and created a Master Tourism Development Plan (MTDP) in an effort to make the region’s capital city as the primary gateway to the various tourist destinations in the Caraga Region, it was learned Sunday.

To give more teeth to the said plan, City Mayor Democrito Plaza II over the weekend issued Executive Order (EO) No. 192 – “An order implementing the cultural mapping of Butuan City towards the development of a comprehensive Tourism Plan.”

The EO will support the CTC in strengthening the historical heritage, cultural treasures and pre-historic archaeological significance of this city.

Plaza said this city is the regional center of Caraga Region and positioned itself to be the show window of history, culture and meetings, incentives, conventions, exhibits (MICE) and destination.

Also located in this city are archaeological richness punctuated by sites which yielded metal, Balanghai boats, artifacts, earthenware and ceramics, gold ornaments and deformed skulls of early inhabitants.

Being the region’s capital city, the city government here also developed a sector for center of transportation, education, finance and business to complement its position as regional MICE destination.

The CTC chaired by former City Mayor Daisy Plaza also embarked on various community heritage programs for the preservation and appreciation of its local heritage.

“There is a need to identify and harness the heritage resources of the city and transform these into valuable and sustainable educational and economic assets that can affect the contemporary lives of the people and the future generation,” said Plaza in his EO.

With these, Plaza’s EO also ordered the creation of the Cultural Mapping Management (project) Implementation Team (CMMIT).

The CMMIT would set the direction and provide policies for the implementation of the cultural mapping together with its partner agencies, the National Museum (NM) and the University of Santo Tomas.