Danilo P. Padua, PhD
Tourism in La Trinidad, Benguet had always been a sideshow of Baguio tourism. You talk of strawberry outside of CAR and people will associate it with Baguio City. Same goes true with everlasting before. Both of these tourist crops however were grown mostly out of Baguio, primarily in La Trinidad.
Incidentally, one can now hardly see the everlasting flower hanging in souvenir shops in Baguio. The crop is now fast vanishing. But more of this later.
I have always believed that tourism is a sunshine industry. Most people in the know have the same sentiment. It is not only a good source of livelihood but also as a way to conserve and protect the environment. This is especially so if we talk about agri- or eco-tourism, and we consider the Cordillera region. The province of Benguet, including some of its municipalities definitely recognize this.
La Trinidad, the strawberry and rose capital of the Philippines is leading the way. Two years ago, the town designated its first municipal tourism officer, Valred Olsim, who had since worked for a more vibrant tourism in the locality. Consonant to this, every barangay in the town also designated its own tourism officer. This augurs well for a LT tourism boom.
Last week, a tourism summit in La Trinidad was organized. Since this was the first of its kind, naturally a lot of areas were not covered very well. It was supposed to be for all stakeholders but not all concerned sectors were actually represented. Most of the activities were geared towards training more tourist guides. Less, if at all, were directed to local tourism roadmap. No workshop or cooperative planning whatsoever was done. No tourism draft plans were presented for collective evaluation by the participants.
According to some attendees, it was not well-organized. For example, there were stalls for product exhibits (and there were excellent products on display) but there were no people coming in since it was not promoted well. They chorused that it should not have been called a summit. Just training of tour guides.
It was a very good attempt nonetheless. Truly, it was a learning experience. Am pretty sure, the next summits, or any of similar nature, will come with improvements.
There are some positives in the summit. For instance, the CAR-DOT secretary was there at the opening program. The provincial tourism office of Benguet was also represented by Mr. Francis Likigan. He presented the tourism outlook in the Baguio, La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan and Tublay (BLIST) area which was well-received by the participants.
The book, “La Trinidad: Valley of Colors” compiled by Mr. Olsim and distributed free to the participants, is very informative. It contains existing and potential tourist destinations. I was surprised to learn from it that there are at least five caves in La Trinidad, waiting to be developed as real tourist attractions. And there are so many more in the book. Those who would like to get involved (entrepreneurs, prospective investors, etc should take a look at it.
It actually details what had been done by the local tourism office, including a tourism action plan but was not discussed in the summit.
The book’s Epilogue presented some problems that must be immediately considered such as infrastructure development. It also proposes a council that is definitely private in character and not subservient to changing and fickle politics. Both counts, if properly addressed, should really advance tourism in the locality.
Some of the summit’s participants are now actually contributing to LT tourism with nary the active support of the local tourism council. Their plight though was hardly given due attention.
I met in the summit Mr. Efraim Bautista of Buted, Tawang who is married to the sister of the late Mr. Jack Dulnuan. Their daughter Camille, a nurse, thought of putting up a tourist-oriented business. To realize this, she resigned from her hospital job in Manila. They carefully dismantled their old, native house in Ifugao, transported the materials to Tawang and rebuilt an almost exact replica of the original in their lot. The houses are elevated with the wooden posts standing on concrete bases. They have cogon roofs, walls of wood and well-fitted bamboo. The lot was first landscaped so the house was built on a strong rock foundation.
Actually, 2 houses were put up, one is good for 5 people and being rented for PhP2,500/night. The other is good for 8 people They started operation only last April this year. A third one is coming up which could accommodate 10 or more persons. More are slated to be built.
Tourists could sleep in such authentic Ifugao houses. They could cook their own food in a separate kitchen. The facility also boasts of two small swimming pools, one for kids and the other for adults. Presently, the facility has parking for about 6 cars. So far, early occupants had rated the facility at 4, five being the highest.
These are the kinds of tourist facility that should help propel La Trinidad, and Benguet for that matter, to greater heights. And they should therefore be given proper attention.
More on the summit next week.**
