Up to Paradise Hill, the tallest peak found around barangay Panadtaran in Candijay town, Bohol province, is a vista of tremendous beauty: undulating clouds, shimmering mountains, greening fields, a still river with its tributaries reaching as far as Cogtong Bay.  And deep into and around the thick pictures of green foliage is a community of farmers, fishers - most of who are living on an income of as low as US$1 a day - belonging to the some of the poorest in the world per World Bank standards.

Barangay Panadtaran, 92 kms from the capital city of Tagbilaran, has considerably been a poverty-stricken village, in terms of monetary income of the inhabitants, but the folks are managing a perhaps multibillion-peso worth of natural resources in which depended upon their daily survival and the future of their children.  Efforts to elevate the quality of life had been made.

Certain programs implemented in the past gained success, yet it was short-lived, or not sustained. However, notable projects like mud crab and oyster culture and mangrove management started by the Coastal Resource Management Project gave an impetus to sustain a community-based, self-enhancing development initiative.  Threats to the fragile ecosystem were evidential.  Big commercial fishing operators have started to convert Cogtong Bay, home to some 36 species of mangrove, believed to be one of the richest in the country which has known 47 species all, into fishponds.  Indiscriminate cutting of mangroves is done without knowing such act could imperil the ecosystem, thereby ruining the people's very own food source.  Siltation and pollution around the Panadtaran area and nearby Cogtong Bay, where some 60 species of exotic birds roam free, could become unmanageable if the people don't take concrete actions to preserve the place.

A community-based, self-sustaining conservation effort had to take off.  In the course of preserving nature, the resource managers, who are the fisherfolk and farmers themselves, should earn and improve their income.
Back in 1996, the Panadtaran Mangrove Association (PAMAS) was founded with a membership of 40 and has grown to 160 today.  In 1999, this people's organization was awarded by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) with a 600 hectare-mangrove.  They should wisely manage and utilize the project within a 25-year strategy. At the time there already was an encouragement to put up an eco-tour.

The Chocolate Hills, the white sand beaches, the Loboc River, the Blood Compact site - ravishing as they are - but these places cannot yet be qualified as eco-tourism destinations, in the strictest sense of the word, since the people living around these areas are not directly involved in the whole package of tourism enterprise.
"A place is considered an eco-tourism destination when the people themselves living in the place get involve in the preservation and conservation of the environment, and the tour directly benefits them economically,” says Sibylle Creutz, DED consultant. She works in close cooperation with the local government of Candijay and the First Consolidated Bank Foundation, Inc. (FCBFI), which is implementing the Integrated Population and Coastal Resource Management Program.

Trainings so far and small funding conducted by the DED with active support from FCBFI had been focused to improve the eco-tour.  On top of the support, the construction of the 500-meter bamboo boardwalk, including a hanging bamboo bridge, funded by the DED, is a solid legacy of DED's strong commitment of reaching the less privilege in the Philippines. Not only the boardwalk has been used for the people's day to day transportation, it makes the tour hassle free, relaxing and conducive to explore.  This boardwalk, which is expected to last for three years, was built by the "sweat equity” of the PAMAS members.

"My role for this tour and to the group is to see the needs of the group and find solutions to these needs, manage them, check their progress, so that the tour becomes more professionalized and self-sustaining,” says Sibylle.  Asked why the tour has not been formally launched when in fact the tour guides has been accepting bookings and the income had been used for some tool acquisition, Sibylle notes: ”There are still things to be improved, and I'm continually looking for ways to make things better, so that we meet the market needs”.
 
This DED volunteer, described by Abeth Buscano of FCBFI as seemingly indefatigable, hopes that whether or not DED is around and the other partner organizations supporting the tour, the tour will last to the end, with new things being improved everyday.  "The most important lesson I learn here is that awareness plays a vital role in people's lives. When they become aware of the importance of the environment, it pushes them to do something for its preservation,” quips Sibylle, as she stands quite and reflective on top of the Paradise Hill, the spot in Panadtaran, where she is reminded of the power in people and nature working together.

Text: Mike Ortega Ligalig, Senior Writer, The Bohol Chronicle

 

Photos: Sibylle Creutz, DED Expert in Bohol, Tagbilaran