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JUST
when I thought that developers, planners and architects
didn’t have a chance to correct the mistakes they made
in developing Boracay, an opportunity presented itself.
I, together with another architect, was invited by a
prospective client to accompany him to an ocular
inspection of his property in San Vicente, Palawan,
which he was thinking of developing into an exclusive
beach resort. I have been to Palawan before, but I have
never been to the San Vicente area, which is why I
packed my bags right away and agreed to go with him
without any hesitation.
San
Vicente is one of the many municipalities in
Palawan and is located on its north-western side. It is
bounded on the west by South
China Sea, the municipalities of Taytay, Roxas and Puerto Princesa on
the north, east and southwest, respectively. About 75
percent of it is generally forested, which allows the
place to have a rich marine, agriculture and forest
resources endemic only to
Palawan. It also has a pearl farm of about 8 hectares. But
what impressed me the most was the endless stretch of
pristine and untouched white beach! Boracay is 7 km long
but only has a white beach that is about 2.5 km. Imagine
the beach in Boracay, multiply it 16 times, and you’ll
get an idea of how long the beach is in San Vicente
because it runs a stretch of over 40 km collectively!
Now that’s what you can call a slice of paradise! During
low tide, the beach can be as wide as 60 meters from the
first line of coconut trees to the tip of the water. I
could start to imagine the different recreational
activities that you can do with a beach as wide as that.
We visited the different parts of the long beach, such
as Alimanguhan, Maymanoc, Lion’s Head, Canefo, Luambong,
Port Barton and Exotic Island, to name a few. From
anywhere in the
long beach,
we enjoyed beautiful views of the open ocean,
Mount Capwas
and the sunset.
Being in
an untouched and undeveloped municipality was very
interesting. I was able to witness a number of
“vignettes” or “snapshots” that describe the simplicity
of the place. In the mornings and afternoons, all the
kids of the town would walk kilometers to get to and
from school. It would take them so long to get home that
some of them would do their homework while walking, so
that by the time they get home, they would be finished
with their assignments. I also saw how some of them
catch fish. The process is called pangangawil,
where they use a 300-meter fishnet. One end of the net
is left on shore, while the other end is pulled by a
boat out into the open sea. The net is then brought back
to the shore, forming an arch in the ocean. The two ends
are then pulled by the whole community, little by
little, until the entire fish net is brought back to
shore. Some days, they fill up three baskets with
different fish; some days, they don’t catch anything.
The owner of the fishnet then divides the catch of the
day into two. The first half is sold to local markets or
is exported to other towns, while the other half is
given to the community as its food for lunch or dinner,
making everybody happy. I was deeply moved by how their
community works together daily to achieve even a small
task of catching fish. Even if they have simple lives, I
didn’t see a face that didn’t have a smile on it.
Another
thing that made my visit to San Vicente paradise-like
was the food. We stayed in Caparii, which was originally
a scuba camp that has since been converted into a small
resort complete with a dining hall, VIP suites and
function rooms. Throughout our stay, we would constantly
joke around and call it the “fattening farm,” because it
seemed like there was something in the food that made
you want to eat more with every bite. Some of the food
served included a soup that was a cross between lobster
chowder, stuffed crab, chicken curry and lapu-lapu.
There were some vegetables that were endemic to
Palawan. For dessert, they served us this fruit called champada, a cross
between marang and langka whose seed they
brought from
Indonesia.
Developers and private investors are starting to see the
development potential of this area. I am sure that San
Vicente will become a “beach resort town,” ushering in a
huge influx of local and foreign tourists. My only hope
is that the investors, architects and planners who will
be coming in to prepare their respective designs will
take into consideration the mistakes made in famous
Boracay. Environmental issues need to take precedence to
ensure that this jewel of a beach will not deteriorate
over the coming years. Proper setbacks from the
beachfront should be maintained and the architecture
should be carefully designed so as not to seem too
“imposing” on the natural beauty of the place. To be
sure, there will be huge requirements for the different
resorts to thrive in a beach strip as long as this. This
is why alternate sources of energy should also be
integrated in the preparation of plans. An updated
development plan should be prepared to serve as a
nonnegotiable guideline for future developers. The local
government and our tourism groups should form
partnerships to enforce such plans and to ensure correct
developmental procedures. I do hope that this time,
nobody repeats the same mistakes.
****
For inquiries about the accommodations and the cuisine,
you may contact Brasserie Bleu at 888-5801 to 03 or
e-mail them at sandy_phils@yahoo.com. You may e-mail the
author at design@buensalidoarchitects.com and visit his
web site at www.buensalidoarchitects.com. |
