Masbate, Surigao, Guimaras embrace ecotourism

I’ve been traveling a lot. It’s hard for me to refuse requests of people especially if it concerns the environment. My first out-of-town trip this year was to Masbate. My interest in going there was because we have projects in Bicol and including Masbate as part of the Destination Tourism Effort made sense. I also went there to join Takbo Para Sa Kalikasan organized by the group of Alternatibo Masbateno which is a movement advocating for social change in Masbate. During my two-day stay there I met 100 fishermen who said they used to earn P1,000 a day! That’s how much fish Masbate has, and they now earn a pittance due to illegal fishing. How sad! Illegal fishing has been going on here for decades and the people come in their boats and bribe the concerning LGUs by millions of pesos to the detriment of the smalltime fishermen! I will give special commendation to the current mayor of Masbate City who has been able to minimize illegal fishing in his place. This means it can be done! I met the fishermen who are doing tourism activities and they said they earn so much more.

 My next out-of-town sortie brought me to Surigao del Sur. I had to land in Butuan and take a three-hour ride to the place. It was windy and rainy. I was surprised to find out that their summer is during the rainy season of Manila! They actually go parallel with the weather patterns of the US June and July are their best summer months. This is great news for Metro Manila and tourism. This means that the Philippines has something to offer to tourists year round. I mostly gave talks and met people.

 Surigao: it’s a great place for surfers, scuba divers and bird watchers. The municipality of Britania has 24 islets, five islands and one can go to all of these in just four hours. The second deepest trench in the world is in Cantilan! That could be a prime tourist destination.

A good person to contact if you go there is Tanya Hotchkiss at 0917-3104932 or Tinty Iriberri at 0917-6204140. They can show you great places to go to. Surigao is so beautiful! The people that rule this piece of paradise must make the commitment to nurture and protect it. Unfortunately, Surigao is one of the poorest provinces in the country.

Finally, a few days after coming back to Manila, I met the governor of Guimaras. He has embraced agriculture and ecotourism. They have the lowest incidence of poverty in the region. In a short span of time, their poverty rate has gone from 75 percent down to 13 percent. There are now many foreigners who live on the island. There are 15,000 people that traffic daily between Iloilo and Guimaras. There is even a bus that travels from Cubao to Guimaras. Their fish have grown from four inches to about 8-10 inches. Their peace and order is almost perfect. Isn’t this the way to go?

 I was further inspired when I learned that in contrast to other islands, the governor enlisted the help of scientists to find out the carrying capacity of the island, planned the whole island way in advance, said in no uncertain terms, “Yes, we will accept investors… But it has to be in our framework, which means agriculture and ecotourism. The environment is important.” And hey, they have done well!

 I always tell students to choose the path that yields the best results. The path to choose for the country is crystal clear. Look at Puerto Princesa, Bohol, Guimaras and then look at Surigao del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Masbate and all other areas where the governance does not respect the environment and the common good.

  I am just so sure in my heart of hearts that protecting the environment, especially in our islands, is the way to quality of life for our people. It is good for us and it is also good for the planet. If we all bond together, we can make it happen.

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I can be reached at regina_lopez@abs-cbn.com.