Rey Anthony H. Chiu
TAGBILARAN CITY, April 24 (PIA)--Feeling it has been left out in
the tourism bandwagon Tagbilaran City Mayor John Geesnell Yap swings to an
aggressive tourism push to position the city not just as a way point but a
major tourism destination.
"We wish to promote Tagbilaran, not just as a way-point for
tourists, we are ready to receive the tourists," Mayor Yap declared at the
Kapihan sa PIA recently.
Declared by law as the site of the historic blood compact,
Tagbilaran City's tourism however could not jump off beyond the pier-Sandugo
shrine circuit with not much effort going into it in the past.
Yap now promises more. SAULOG street dancing. Already
making a strong presence with this year's Saulog Streetdancing competition
which marked a significant event in the fiesta season, city leadership has
succeeded in generating full city district participation.
Still a generic street dancing showcase, city streetdancing
observers are certain that the street performance could become a legitimate
city jump-off to the province-wide Sandugo streetdancing festival.
Everything anchors on Saulog: a celebration of thanksgiving to the
patron Saint Joseph the worker and dance steps at least should depict in
any creative way "pagpanguros, panukdok, panipilya and paghalad,"
explains Fiel Angelie Araoarao-Gabin, the City information officer.
This could also make the Saulog Dance different from the rest of
the streetdances in Bohol, observers noted.
A few minutes off Tubig Dako in Taloto is Mabaw
reef, Tagbilaran City's best underwater showcase. Home to a good
assortment of soft and hard coral cover Mabaw Reef is the city's newest
declared marine protected area for coral reef conservation by virtue of City
Ordinance no C-191 dated April 2006.
Now a strict no-take zone, the marine sanctuary has been a refuge
to various marine species, corals, fish and invertebrates. By protecting
our source of food, we keep this safe for the next generation, Mayor Yap
said.
Now opened for recreational diving and snorkeling, Mabaw is also
the city's premier coastal marine resource information center.
Another event that is also becoming a tradition is Mutya sa
Tagbilaran an annual beauty and brains competition that puts fair ladies
from the city's 15 districts to pick out its main ambassador of goodwill,
environment and tourism.
Mutya sa Tagbilaran aims to make sure that the city is represented
in the major beauty competitions needing its representation. Last
Friday, Mutya ng Tagbilaran Pageant was opened to a huge crowd at the
Bohol Wisdom Gym.
Also in the City's tourism development priority is the Tagbilaran
City Heritage Walk: an interactive walk which uses the St. Joseph Cathedral
Complex and Sitio Ubos as the tourism hub of activities.
Major points of interest are the coral stone cathedral, the
century old provincial capitol, the Escuela de Ninos now occupied by the
national museum, the restored Inang-angan and the old stone houses at Sitio
Ubos community center.
Earlier this year, Tagbilaran City, with its partners went into
cultural mapping to determine which areas in the city can be developed further
into new sites and destinations.
At the recent mapping, the city mayor said he did not know that
one former barangay chairman in Mansasa District happens to be a sculptor and
another former barangay captain in Manga as a respected boat builder.
Also in Manga, the city government has listed the Reputanas as a
reputable guitar makers and music craftsmen whose skills in guitar crafting is
comparable with international music instrument makers. (mbcn/rahc/PIA-7Bohol)