By Sonny Angara
On March 1, 2023, the Senate Tourism Subcommittee on Select Senate Bills on Ecotourism and on the Proposed Senate Resolution on Nature-Based Tourism held a hearing to discuss various measures and, ultimately, to find solutions and initiatives to advance the domestic tourism industry’s recovery while instilling eco-consciousness amid the country’s upcoming summer months and in anticipation of the influx of tourists this year owing to “revenge travel.”
The following measures were tackled: Senate Bill 238, establishing the Northern Antique Protected Seascape and Landscape Act of 2022 filed by Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda; several bills which I filed, namely, Senate Bill 1166, declaring the Pag-asa Island as an ecotourism cluster and protected area; and Proposed Senate Resolution 472, for the creation of policy reforms and budgetary expenditures to develop the Philippines’ potential to be the leading country in the world for sustainable Nature-Based Tourism (NBT).
Discussions on Senate Bill 238 centered on Northern Antique’s crucial role in the region’s development and its surrounding environment. Department of Tourism (DOT) Region 6 Regional Director Crisma Rodriguez emphasized how Northern Antique positively contributed to tourism growth in Antique, with five of its municipalities registering 14,311 tourist arrivals, or equivalent to almost half of all tourist arrivals in the province and with receipts amounting to P103 million owing to the area’s wide range of recreation activities like white river rafting, river tubing, diving, among others. Moreover, local chief executives reiterated that Northern Antique is both a tourism destination and a habitat to dugongs, which are classified as vulnerable species by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). All the concerned stakeholders concurred that the proposed measure will ensure the protection of the flora and fauna of the Northern Antique seascape and landscape for the benefit of the local communities and future Antiqueños.
For Senate Bill 1166, Representative Johnny Pimentel (Surigao del Sur 2D), being the counterpart measure’s author in the House of Representatives, started the discussion by explaining the bill’s noble purpose, which is to assert our sovereign rights through economic initiative or soft diplomacy and to pave the way for the Pag-asa Island’s development. Representative Edgardo Egay Salvame (Palawan 1D) also manifested his support on the measure and said that the declaration of the Pag-asa Island Cluster as a protected area would help ensure its coastal and marine resources are protected from overfishing, poaching, large-scale ocean filling or reclamation. While Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Undersecretary Augusto dela Peña manifested the agency’s support to the bill, he flagged the need for supporting infrastructures and resources to guarantee peace and order so that the safety and security of civilians and civilian activities would be unhampered. Pag-asa Island is the only Philippine-occupied island in the Spratlys that is inhabited by civilians. We are talking about pristine waters that is rich in biodiversity that makes it an ideal destination for tourists.
Proposed Senate Resolution 472 is a result of our meeting with academics from the University of the Philippines (UP) who observed that we are not maximizing the promotion of NBT in spite of the competitive advantage our country has because of its wealth of resources. Masungi Georeserve trustee Billie Dumaliang agreed that nature-based tourism in the country is still underdeveloped and undermarketed. In fact the United Nations Development Program found that the gap on financing for biodiversity in the Philippines is at 80 percent. Biodiversity Conservation Society of the Philippines pressed the need for consultations to identify protected areas and other nature reserves in the country that have the potential to become flagship destinations for NBT.
As Philippine tourism was heavily hit by the recent COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need to diversify the sector’s products and services while being conscious of sustainability. We fervently hope these discussions would form part of the country’s rallying cry to further advance and develop our competitive advantages to propel growth and recovery in the tourism sector.
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Senator Sonny Angara has been in public service for 18 years — nine years as Representative of the Lone District of Aurora, and nine as Senator. He has authored, co-authored and sponsored more than 330 laws.
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Email: sensonnyangara@yahoo.com | Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @sonnyangara/WDJ