Urban Resources

What you need to know about Guisi

By admin ⋅ May 18, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

EARNING around 70 pesos a day from the dwindling yield of the sea and from the tedious process of making charcoal isn’t really enough for every family of Barangay Dolores, a coastal village in the town of Nueva Valencia and is found in the southwestern-most tip of Guimaras Island in central Philippines. Perhaps, the community just simply wants to be true to its name, which in English means “pains.”

Behind the beauty of its pristine shoreline that is decorated with white sands and majestic rock formations lies the pain of poverty that is found in most of the homes in the area.

At the average, families in Dolores earn about 300 pesos a week from fishing and 200 pesos a week from charcoal making – the two industries that have been sustaining the lives of its at least 1,800 population.

“Life is becoming hard here these days. Illegal fishing has destroyed our marine resources and fishers could hardly make a hefty catch,” laments village chief Rogelio Galapin, 62.

He blames illegal fishing and the intrusion of big commercial fishing boats into the municipal waters as the reason for the decline of the household income in the village.
“Two decades ago, the daily catch was abundant. Fishers then can bring home at least 300 pesos a day,” Galapin, speaking in his native tongue Hiligaynon, recounts.

OPTIMISM

But despite the growing pains in the area, optimism is now reigning among the people following the entry of the Guimaras Heritage Tourism Project, which aims to transform the place into a tourist destination managed by the community.

The project calls for the establishment of a community-based heritage tourism program, one of the demonstration projects under the Guimaras Economic Initiatives.

The GEI is a capacity development assistance for the island province implemented under the Canada-Philippine Partnership Program for Good Urban Governance (CPPPGUG).

CPPPGUG is an initiative under the International Partnership Program for Good Urban Governance between Canada and the Philippines that seeks to assist selected local governments in the Western Visayas region to achieve more efficient and equitable delivery of economic, environmental and social services through the promotion of inter-local government cooperation.

Funded by the government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the program supports the Philippines’ continued thrust towards decentralization of powers to local authorities and empowerment of communities in local decision-making, as set forth in the 1991 Local Government Code.

“Barangay Dolores has a lot of potentials as far as tourism is concerned,” says Francis Gentoral, Philippine program manager of the Canadian Urban Institute, a Canadian non-government organization that implements the CPPPGUG.

“If given the capacity to manage their own resources, the community can improve their lot through tourism. Managing their resources will also require them to protect it, thus making the industry sustainable,” adds Gentoral.

CUI, which serves as a think-tank, is committed to improving policy making, governance and management in urban regions by encouraging a better understanding of contemporary urban issues among communities, business, government and other key institutions.

TOURISM POTENTIALS

Dolores boasts of Sitio Guisi, a coastal hamlet of about 80 families living along the white sand beach and guarded by a Spanish lighthouse known in naval manuals as Faro de Punta Luzaran.

It also has forested hills, a cave and a waterfall. The indigenous culture remains intact, and the people are ideally hospitable. The coast also offers a magnificent view of the sunset over Panay Gulf.

“The beach is perfect for swimming and canoeing, the hills are ideal for mountain-trekking and the caves are a good site for spelunking. It also has refreshing springs while the lighthouse gives everyone a lesson in history,” says Governor Rahman Nava of Guimaras.

The lighthouse was one of the 70 lighthouses built across the Philippines in 1857 as part of the Masterplan for the Lighting of the Maritime Coasts of the Philippine Archipelago.

The master plan was born for the purpose of lighting the seas and channels of the Philippines to guide ships in and through the most important sea channels to the ports of Manila, Iloilo and Cebu. Guisi was selected to be the host of the lighthouse because it is visible from both Panay and Negros, and from the open sea in the eastern side of the country, it being at the southwestern end of Guimaras.

The area also served as a stopover point for sugar and log loaded ships plying the Iloilo-Cauayan (Negros Occidental) route during the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Spanish lighthouse, which is no longer functioning but is still extant, had a beam that can reach 14 miles, or as far as the town of Guimbal in Iloilo. Its rotating prism, which reflects and beams the kerosene-fueled light, was powered by gravitational force.

Sometime in the 1990s, the Philippine Coast Guard constructed a new one, this time, it is powered by solar energy.

BUILDING CAPACITIES

To build the capacity of villagers in managing a community-based tourism project, a workshop was held in December 2003 to equip them with basic knowledge in inn-keeping, organization, management of tourism facilities and events, guest assistance and handling as well as marketing. Before the workshop, a group of provincial government personnel had a study tour in Samal Island in Davao del Norte where a community-based tourism program had been making several gains. Their learnings were echoed during the activity.

The provincial government of Guimaras, the municipal government of Nueva Valencia and CUI facilitated the workshop, which enjoyed the assistance of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda).

The provincial government of Guimaras allocated 350,000 pesos for the construction of a one-room heritage cottage to accommodate tourists in the area. It is equipped with a bathroom, a kitchen and lighting facilities. It was subsequently turned over the Barangay Tourism Council (BTC) for management.

The BTC offers a tour package for a group of five at the rate of 1,175 pesos per person, which includes accommodation at the heritage cottage and meals for two days, and services like boating and carroza ride, as well as a cultural presentation. Guides are also available for those who want to go mountain trekking and spelunking.

BLESSING

“This project is a blessing to the people here because it can give them additional income as service providers in the project,” says Renato Garnita, 66, president of the BTC.

Garnita, whose father used to work at the lighthouse, describes as “timely” the assistance given them under the Guimaras Heritage Tourism Project because it came at the time when most residents are bearing the pains of poverty.

He likened the project to the lighthouse that guides ships to their destinations. “Our village has a lot of potentials and all the people here need is guidance so we can overcome the challenges, and we are glad that there is this project that will give us direction,” he quips.

Garnita concedes that the people still has a lot of things to learn before they can develop the proper skills and acquire sufficient knowledge to manage the resources of the village.

He adds, “If many of us can withstand poverty here, there is no reason why we can’t endure the test of learning the ropes of the trade. If we will not face that test, we can never receive the promise that community-based tourism brings us.”

 From URBAN PARTNER, December 2003 issue