Valencia town starts eco-tourism project

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — The municipality of Valencia in Negros Oriental is officially launching its month-long celebration of its festival, dubbed Chada! Valencia, in May this year to promote the town's community-based tourism, as well as its culture, arts and heritage, among others.

Mayor Edgar Teves, in a press conference Friday, announced the grand launching will be on Sunday after the Catholic Mass although on May 1, the municipality opened its Food, Products, Plants and Art Exhibit.

The mayor said Chada! Valencia will be the town's premiere showcase of its eco-tourism potentials, considering that it has plenty of natural tourist destinations such as waterfalls, mountain resorts, lush forests, lakes, man-made and natural swimming lagoons, adventure sports and the vast geothermal resources, among others.

The word "chada" is coined from the Cebuano term "patsada", meaning beautiful, and which is widely used in Negros Oriental compared to its neighboring Visayan provinces, Teves said.

Several activities have been lined up for the whole month celebration, to include an agriculture and furniture exhibit, launching of Ligiron Race, which is an indigenous type of carrier built with the use of wood, used in the 1960s for transporting farm produce in the municipality. This will be on Sunday, to be participated by at least 20 being built just for the race.

Councilor Elsie Dagoy, chairman of the committee on tourism in Valencia, identified at least eight tourist destinations of the municipality which is being patronized by local and foreign tourists alike, namely, Camp Lookout, Amity Shrine in Sagbang, Casaroro Falls, Tejeros, Forest Camp, Red River Valley Falls, Ocean 24 and the Geothermal in Puhagan Valencia, to include the three lakes found in Cuernos de Negros. — (FREEMAN)