Aklan’s Indefatigable Vice Governor
written by Ulysses Espartero
published in Panay News
There is no greatness without a passion to be great.
For SP Secretary Odon S. Bandiola, the lady Aklan Vice Governor and Presiding Officer of the Aklan SP is not only a recognized industry leader in the field of tourism, but an accomplished political leader whose hearts and mind are into the full development and progress of Aklan and her people.
“Be she in the Halls of Congress or in the Session Hall of the provincial legislative body, the Honorable Gabrielle V. Calizo-Quimpo believes that tourism is one among the surest means of uplifting the economy of her country, province and her people,” he stressed.
In 2008, Calizo-Quimpo added another feather on her cap when she received the Western Visayas Lifetime Tourism Achievement Award conferred by the Department of Tourism during the WV Tourism Assembly in Bacolod City. In conferring the award to Vice Governor Calizo-Quimpo, the DOT cited her achievements in the field of tourism.
Calizo-Quimpo has been in the tourism business for 33 years. In her long years of experience as an executive of an international hotel chain and as a tour operator, she has gained extensive experience in the tourism business and established contact with travel industry practitioners, hoteliers, tour operators, tourism officials of various countries, airline executives and travel media worldwide.
At a very young age of 22, she was named Assistant Director for sales and marketing of Century Park Hotel in 1976 where she worked until 1987. She was only 33 years old when in 1987, she took the plum post as President of Blue Horizon Travel and Tours. She served as President until 2001 and remained the company’s Director up to the present.
As a tour operator, she is President of Vacanze International Travel and Tours, Inc. (1996 to present) and Director of Bohol Travel and Tours (1989 to present). She has served as President of Cruise and Hotel Center, a pioneer in small vessel cruising in the Philippines. As tour operator, she was also President of Go Palawan Travel and Tours.
Under her leadership, the awards received by Blue Horizons include Tour Product of the Year – Air Safari (1990), Tour Product of the Year-Discovery Cruises (1992), Tour Operator of the Year – International (1995), Tour Operator of the Year – International (1996), Creative Award for Trip Delivery – The Philippine Experience (1996), Tour Operator of the Year – International (1999). In 1999, Blue Horizons was declared on top of Kalakbay Hall of Fame.
KALAKBAY stands for Kasama sa Lakbay Kaunlaran ng Bayan, a Philippine Tourism Awards system given by the Department of Tourism and the Philippine Convention and Visitors Corporation to recognize those who by their expertise have creatively projected Philippine lifestyle and the Filipino brand of hospitality and instill pride among the people of our rich and varies tourism assets – our historical treasures, our multi-faceted culture and our magnificent natural blessings.
Calizo-Quimpo is herself a name to reckon with. In 2006, she was named one of the Outstanding Women in Tourism by the Women in Travel-Manila for having significantly contributed to the upliftment and promotion of Philippine tourism. In 2006, the Soroptimist International selected her as one of the Women Achievers of Aklan.
As a business entrepreneur, she was instrumental in making Blue Horizons Travel and Tours, Inc,. the leading Filipino tour operator in Europe and for developing the European market for Philippine tourism. She has pioneered in bringing the Russian tourist market to Boracay Island in Aklan and to Cebu pushing an unprecedented increase in the number of Russian visitors to the Philippines. She is acknowledged as the prime mover in developing the incentive and convention markets for the country.
She has undergone comprehensive trainings in the hotel industry as well as in tour operations in the Philippines and abroad. She also has attended numerous travel fairs, conferences, meetings and conducted sales trips worldwide since 1976 to present representing either her company or as a government official. She has distinguished herself as one of the movers and shakers of the tourism industry in the Philippines and has been appointed by the provincial government to chair the Boracay Development Council.
She earned her elementary education at Balete Elementary School in 1966 as Class Salutatorian and her high school at Aklan College. During her high school days, she was Editor in Chief of the school paper. She earned her degree in Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology at the College of the Holy Spirit in 1974. She passed the government examination for medical technologistsBelieving that the quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. She took postgraduate studies in Hotel and Restaurant Management in Universal Institute of Tourism (1975) and Strategic Business Economics at the University of Asia and Pacific (2001).
As a socio-civic and religious leader, she believes that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity an obligation; every possession, a duty. She served as president of Soroptimist International of Kalibo and Regent of Daughters of Mary Immaculate (DMI). She’s a founding Trustee of Makati Tourism Foundation. She holds memberships in Boracay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and Women in Travel-Manila.
Calizo-Quimpo rose to become one of the great politicians on her own merits. His father, the late Teodoro F. Calizo, Sr. served as Mayor of Balete town for 26 years and member of the provincial board for 3 and half years. Her mother, Luz Laurente Venus-Calizo was a pharmacist and teacher who was appointed provincial boards member to complete the term of her husband when he passed away. His brother, Teodoro V. Calizo, Jr served as three-term Mayor while her sister, Noeme Cordero is the incumbent Mayor of Balete.
Carrying on the torch of leadership, she was elected Senior Board Member in 1998. She made a name in Aklan’s political history when at the age of 47, she was elected as the first lady congresswoman of Aklan in 2001 and served until 2004. In 2007, she was elected Vice Governor, a position she still holds with integrity and commitment to public welfare. As presiding officer of the provincial board, she has realized that strength lies in differences, not in similarities and that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.
