Aloguinsan’s eco-tourism jewel
Like a shot of pure oxygen comes the good news that a river community in Aloguinsan town, southwest Cebu has been nationally recognized as a model of eco-tourism.
Aloguinsan Mayor Cynthia Moreno received the leadership award as “Inang Kalikasan” for eco- tourism from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the success story of the Bojo River, where paddle boat cruises are hosted by barangay folk, who have become proud stewards of their natural heritage.
Moreno never gave up on what looked like a thankless task seven years ago of finding a way out of poverty for a fishing village in Aloguinsan, a fourth-class municipality.
But she would be the first to shine the spotlight instead on the people themselves for keeping the project going.
While many enterprises ride on the popularity of green adventures and claim to be eco-tourism, they fall short of the core requirements of being community-based and geared for the conservation and preservation of the natural environment and local culture.
In the Bojo River Eco-Cultural Tour, a banca ride becomes an eye-opener for visitors who are taken down a 1.3 kilometer waterway, usually with one passenger per boat.
The boatman – or boatwoman – is a local resident who can tell you, in Cebuano or halting English, about the mangroves and majestic rockface of mountains that line both sides of the blue green corridor.
The dialog, not a memorized spiel, can include bits of folklore and species of birds, trees and fish found in the area. When the river opens up into the sea, the solitary visitor enjoys a sense of pure discovery.
No beer promos, blaring karaoke or commercial endorsements clutter the experience. No caged animals or artificial feeding of whale sharks are offered to amuse visitors.
To her credit, when she initiated the project, Mayor Moreno did not see tourism as a get-rich-quick scheme for the village but as a vehicle for people empowerment.
“It’s not a matter of increasing the number of tourists because in eco-tourism, we have to consider carrying capacity,” she told Cebu Daily News. The right balance must be struck between livelihood needs and the environment.
So the process of getting to where it is today was long, laborious, and often messy, involving the change of mindsets so that those who used to eke out a living cutting down mangroves for firewood and blasting fish gave up harmful methods to conserve what nature already offered as local treasures.
Another critical ingredient was the hands-on guidance of a consultant Boboi Costas, whose community organizing skills were put to good use as well as his zeal for authentic Cebuano culture and history, and his flair for innovation. In 2008, he started by bringing in marine biologists and bird experts to check out the terrain and insisted on full research so that Bojo residents would know exactly what they had.
Local pride and a sense of ownership are rewards in themselves for fishermen and riverside dwellers, who form the Bojo Aloguinsan Eco-Tourism Association (BAETAS). They now run the show and manage the tours themselves. Since June 2009, the organized community has earned a gross income of P11 million with a ten percent share for the municipality.
When Mayor Moreno brings guests to the river for a 45-minute cruise and a merienda of local flavors prepared by the community, she knows she’s given birth to an enterprise that has breathed new life into the Bojo River.
