Hilutungan marine sanctuary islet is in need of electricity

The Hilutungan Marine Sanctuary in Cordova is known as among the country’s top diving and snorkeling destinations that generated an annual income of P5 million last year, but residents living in this islet have been suffering from lack of electricity for almost a year now.

The 15.3-hectare rocky Hilutungan Islet, about 30 kilometers from mainland Cordova and accessible by a boat ride, has just one barangay consisting of 250 households with fishing or seaweed farming as the main livelihood.

Barangay chief Melchor Ompad, in an interview with The FREEMAN, said his constituents have been complaining to him after they lost power last September when the electric generator that the province provided for the islet malfunctioned.

Repair of the P160,000 generator should have been an easy solution but a considerable amount was needed for it and, while the barangay is still working to get the money for the repair, some residents have to suffer a bit longer, said the barangay chairman.

A 33-year-old woman who refused to give her name said that those who can afford to have their own generator sets have electricity during the night, but most of the residents use either kerosene lamps or candles to illuminate their households.  The barangay has 1,600 residents, and more than 200 of them are children.

The opportunity of the barangay to solve the problem came yesterday when its officials welcomed Gov. Gwen Garcia and Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy, who led the participants of the Suroy- Suroy Sugbo Urban Adventure, which had Hilutungan as the first stop of the tour before going to Mandaue City.

Garcia, Sitoy and the tour participants took their lunch in Han’s Restaurant, near the famous sanctuary. Ompad however decided to hold off telling the top officials about the needed money to repair the generator, saying that he will just wait for the governor to offer help for his barangay.

Ompad also said they might also soon earn enough to cover the cost of the repairs of the generator from tourists visiting the sanctuary after the municipal government allowed some Korean investors, the operators of Han’s, to rent a part of the islet.

Cordova and the Korean investors had a lease agreement, stipulating that the latter pays P6 million a year over the next two years. The sanctuary management, for its part, earned P5 million last year, but foresees higher revenues in the coming years.

Toti Menguito, the master guardian of this sanctuary, in his speech before the Suroy-Suroy guests, said the first tranche of P3 million was already paid by the Koreans, since they took over the sanctuary last June 4, and Mayor Sitoy gave the P1 million to the barangay.  The money though was intended for the construction of public toilets, to prevent locals from using their white sandy beaches as comfort rooms.

With only one small “sari-sari store” that operates to serve the entire area, there has been actually not much income for the barangay.

Ompad said that a large part of the barangay income came only from the sanctuary, which brought in only P600,000 a year, while its Internal Revenue Allotment share is at P700,000.  — Liv G. Campo/RAE