DOT turns over P300T for materials recovery facility in Malapascua

CEBU, Philippines - Department of Tourism Secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano turned over an initial financial assistance worth P300,000 from the P1.7-million budget for the Malapascua Solid Waste Management Project.

Rey Norabos, village chief of barangay Logon in Malapascua Island, and Rose Liza Osorio of the Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation, the one in-charge of the project, received the check from Durano.

Durano said that the move is a sharing of the vision of the DOT to make Malapascua a world-class ecotourism destination seeing the popularity of the island among local and foreign tourists.

According to him, the DOT has already successfully funded and implemented a similar solid waste management project in Boracay Island.

He said that the problem on garbage in Boracay was deemed hard to solve considering that when they started the project, there were already 4,000 rooms, more than 20,000 residents and almost 20,000 tourists every year.

But, Durano said, the success of the project in Boracay has translated to income generation with the sale of products brought to the Materials Recovery Facility, and the byproducts of composting such as vermi-compost and herbs.

Also, Boracay Island now serves as one of the destinations for the Lakbay Aral Program wherein barangay captains and other implementers of the project are asked to speak on their expertise in the methods of implementation.

Norabos said that though there has been an observed downtrend in tourist arrival in the first quarter of this year in Malapascua Island because of the economic crisis, they see the importance of the project as a way to help in the livelihood of the residents.

Further, Osorio of the CCEF said that the initial P300,000 will be used for the construction of a Materials Recovery Facility in the island. Trainings and educational campaigns would also be carried out and that a social worker would be detailed in the area for a year. – AJ dela Torre/MEEV   (THE FREEMAN)