The need to safeguard Siargao

Cesar Gorillo .

HAVING owned a land myself in one of the beaches of Siargao Islands, the surfing capital of the Philippines, has forced me to visit that place every now and then to check on the progress of some of my projects there.

With its varied tourist attractions such as the three famous islands facing the surfing area of General Luna such as Daku, Guyam and Pansukyan Islands, the Magpupongko Pool in Pilar, the Sugba Lagoon in del Carmen , the Suhoton Cave in Socorro and the giant surfing waves of Cloud Nine in Katangnan, General Luna, many rich investors and foreigners have decided to pour in millions of pesos in building resorts and villas to cater to hundreds thousands of tourists who flock the island during holidays, long summer rests and to witness the world famous surfing competition every October each year.

I was there during the Holy Week and the island simply overflowed with too much visitors which the island could no longer house or accommodate. Good that the mayor of Dapa offered the whole gymnasium and the tourists who were not able to find rooms to rest had to install their tents in the gymnasium.  All the six boats which carry passengers from Surigao City to Siargao Island could not accommodate the many passengers and some had to wait for the next day to be accommodated.

This is where the problem really lies. Unlike in Boracay Island where the tourists have to take the thousands of pumpboats waiting in Caticlan, Malay to the island, the pumpboats in Surigao City cannot cater to the tourists because the trip is too long (about three hours in very stormy water) and very dangerous. In Boracay, the trip can only take you about 10 minutes in calm and shallow water.  Thus the problem of transport is posing a great danger to tourists whose time is very limited and could no longer wait to be accommodated the next day.

Upon arrival at the island, accommodation is another problem because there are simply less lodging houses, hotels or homestays as against the number of tourists arriving.  Some are so high priced because they are only built to cater to their European clients and command as high as P50,000 per room.  Low-priced lodging houses are few and the facilities are not that par with what we are used in cities like Cagayan de Oro.

It is a must, therefore, that to sustain the tourists arrivals in the island, additional lodging houses, homestays, hotels should be built in order not to repeat the tragic Holy Week experience when many have to go as far as the gymnasium of Dapa to have their tents built.  Or else, tourists have to secure advance accommodations in the lodging houses or hotels there to avoid the inconvenience of not finding one upon arrival.  My friend in our barrio of Don Paulino, Dapa, had to open her house to accommodate the 18 tourists from Bukidnon who had no room to stay.

The local government should also reign on unscrupulous motorela  drivers who are charging fares as high as P300 from Dapa to General Luna and the and the habal-habal  drivers P150 on same distance which in Bukidnon, such distance can only fetch thrice as less.

Let us not waste this chance of getting more tourists to our beautiful Siargao Island. Let us not abuse the tourists with our high charges on almost everything by taking advantage of them.  In Magpupongko alone, I was shocked to be charged P35 for a very small buko and the small kiping or salvaro locally for P15 which only cost P5 in Cagayan de Oro. The liplipan fish or blue marlin was already fetching as high as P300 per kilo last Holy Week when it used to fetch P120 per kilo.

This column is not meant to discourage our tourists to visit the place. Go there while still alive. Put the island in your bucket list of places to visit before you die. The whole island is simply beautiful, amazing.  No wonder, it became the title of a film which was shot there and became the background of several sexy poses of my very beautiful idol, Erich Gonzales.

We only have to take care of our tourists’ transport by land, sea and let them feel secure in our ready available rooms.