BEAUTIES AND AN OLD TREE. Five candidates to the search for Miss Earth 2019 pose beside the “Centennial Tree” at the forest park in Initao town, Misamis Oriental on Tuesday. Fifteen of those vying for the Miss Earth crown were in Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental for a two-day tour. (photo by Jigger J. Jerusalem)
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By Jigger J. Jerusalem
Correspondent

ONE of the candidates to the search for Miss Earth 2019 was so impressed with a mangrove park in Misamis Oriental that she wants to replicate it in her own country.

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Miss Earth Tonga Titania Matekuolava said she was amazed at the Tubajon Aquamarine Park in Barangay Tubajon, Laguindingan town.

BEAUTIES AND AN OLD TREE. Five candidates to the search for Miss Earth 2019 pose beside the “Centennial Tree” at the forest park in Initao town, Misamis Oriental on Tuesday. Fifteen of those vying for the Miss Earth crown were in Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental for a two-day tour. (photo by Jigger J. Jerusalem)

“I want to emulate it (aquamarine park), and introduce it to my country,” she said.

Matekuolava said her advocacy as a Ms. Earth 2019 candidate was to reduce pollution, a problem that is prevalent in Tonga.

She said it is a common practice for people in her country to burn their trash due to the absence of a comprehensive solid waste management in Tonga, making air pollution a grave environmental issue that must be addressed.

Matekuolava was with 13 other Ms. Earth 2019 contestants who embarked on a two-day visit to Misamis Oriental.

The 14 candidates came from Austria, Italy, Croatia, Malta, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Paraguay, Kenya, Reunion Island, China, Tonga, India, Liberia, and Vietnam.

The beauties visited and planted mangrove at the Tubajon Aquamarine Park.

The aquamarine park has won the “Malinis at Masaganang Karagatan” awards of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, besting other contenders from around the country, in 2017.

Tubajon chairman Teodoro Oguis said they have been taking care of the aquamarine park and has opened to the public who want to enjoy its amenities such as bamboo cottages standing on clear seawater amid the 22-hectare mangrove forest.

“We want to maintain the pristine state of the aquamarine park as it is one of most beautiful tourist sites in Misamis Oriental,” said Laguindingan Mayor Diosdado Obsioma.

The young women also toured the Initao-Libertad Protected Seascape and Landscape, a protected forest and one of the attractions of the province.

Jeffrey Saclot, provincial tourism officer, said the province has so much more to offer.

“We have tourist attractions where guests can enjoy. It is one of the province’s treasures,” he said, referring to the Tubajon Aquamarine Park and the Initao-Libertad Protected Landscape and Seascape.

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