Island offers quiet getaway to tourists

In the flatland that lies parallel to the almost two-kilometer stretch of a privately owned white-sand beach called Halabang Baybay (Long Beach) in Barangay Mangcawayan on Calaguas, an island off the town of Vinzons in Camarines Norte, watermelons once thrived.

The trailer plants known for their thirst-quenching fruits had to give way to tourists since the field gained fame as a destination “comparable with Boracay” four years ago.

Mangcawayan, along with Banocboc and Pinagtigasan, is among the three poor villages in the Calaguas Group of Islands (or Calaguas as it is popularly known today) in the northernmost frontier of Bicol. It can be reached in two and a half hours by boat from the town centers of Vinzons or Paracale.

Tourists arriving in throngs had repeatedly trampled on the watermelon vines, so the peeved farmers have stopped planting. Others have taken advantage of the new-found attraction of the islands to sell refreshments to hungry swimmers.

In 1995, Supertyphoon “Rosing” (international code-name: Angela) almost obliterated Mangcawayan and the rest of the Calaguas with strong winds and sea surges, dooming the residents to a life of isolation.

Now, the people, numbering just over a hundred, must deal with tourist arrivals, a development that has yielded more income for the residents.

Last year, the barangay council started charging P20 from every tourist. During summer, when a thousand tourists would come on any day, the village would earn as much as P20,000, said the council treasurer, Rene Salen.

Consequence

The earnings, regardless of season, remain considerable.

Stores have also cashed in on the influx of visitors.

This development, however, has brought to the fore problems that the village failed to anticipate.

Giovhani C. Buen, manager and caretaker of a portion of the Halabang Baybay in Mang-cawayan, pointed at waste disposal as a concern. He has started to implement a no-littering policy, wary that the island would face environmental issues that could arise from improperly thrown garbage.

Buen has collaborated with the barangay council on proper waste disposal on the beach and thus preserve nature. Among the suggested measures are the establishment of a dock in Mang-

cawayan so that all boats transporting tourists would stay in one place and oil spill and other maritime accidents averted.

“We do not change oil here and we do not throw into the sea even the waste water inside our boat. Oil could have been mixed with it. We do it once we are in the mainland,” said boat operator Alex Fernandez, 43.

Tourists themselves are pushing to keep Calaguas as it is and not to build hotels or “overdevelop” the place, according to Buen and Salen.

Let it be

Salen acknowledged that the presence of hotels, bars and other establishments on the shore could bring jobs and boost the local economy, but villagers were inclined more on letting their place and their old lives be.

Tourist Jhaycee Alipo-on, 24, of Navotas City, who works as a brand associate in Metro Manila, were among those who foresee the benefits of preserving and not overdeveloping Calaguas.

“It’s more fun if the place would remain a campsite, for instance. When it’s developed, it would not be different from other destinations. It would not be unique. It would not be a getaway place,” Alipo-on said.

With its fine sand and clear waters, Calaguas is way better than Boracay, she added.

Calaguas is so quiet, making it a perfect place for a family to relax, far from the city life, Alipo-on said.

“I would love to see the place undisturbed,” she mused. This meant keeping intact the place where goats graze on grassland and wind-swept hills rise almost abruptly from blue green waters that turn emerald when embracing the shore.