NO one is blind to stunning and untouched environments like that of Bacuit Bay where three of the four El Nido Resorts (ENR) in Palawan are located. But when lack of resources and poor awareness connive, local communities become prone to over-fishing, wanton-waste disposal and other practices that harm the surroundings.
With the goal of keeping its surroundings as pristine as possible, ENR has set one day of the year to encourage its staff and the rest of the community to protect the seas by picking up garbage, and to be mindful of the habits that may lead to the destruction of this last ecological frontier of the Philippines.
ENR is made up of four separate properties named after the islands that host them, namely: Miniloc, Lagen and Pangulasian in El Nido town in Bacuit Bay and Apulit in neighboring Taytay town.
The resorts’ observance of International Coastal Cleanup day every September as part of a worldwide event sponsored by The Ocean Conservancy has garnered ENR owner Ten Knots Development Corp. a number of global awards for partnering with host communities to promote conservancy, according to Joey Bernardino, ENR marketing director.
“We host coastal clean-ups and other similar programs to change behaviors that cause pollution and environmental degradation,” he says. With representatives from 18 barangays of El Nido town who picked up ocean trash, the El Nido Resorts ICC day in September drove home the point that marine debris leads to loss of water quality, destruction of marine habitats and causes harm to birds, turtles and other mammals.
The main cleanup site was the 4-kilometer beachfront along Bacuit Bay that is part of Lio in ElNido. The untouched stretch of fine sand is part of the 325-hectare Lio Tourism Estate envisioned by Ten Knots to be a fully integrated community that will maintain the ecological balance in the area through a sustainable master plan.
Lio’s initial 25-hectare parcel will offer beginning next year bed and breakfasts, dining and retail centers and tourism-related establishments that will all blend with the natural landscape. No building, for instance, will be taller than the height of the coconut trees.
Its exceptional expanse of beach will also for the most part remain a place to enjoy, to stroll in and to enjoy beach volleyball, which was the highlight of the 2015 International Coastal Cleanup Day sponsored by El Nido Resorts. Celebrity volleyball players Gretchen Ho and Alexa Micek competed against one another in an exhibition match with local residents.
Mariglo Laririt, ENR director for the Environment and Sustainability, relates that central to the community partnership programs of Ten Knots is the belief that with education, people become more aware of the importance and vulnerability of ElNido’s natural resources.
“We hope awareness will develop a sense of respect and also a commitment to guard these resources to ensure its perpetuity.”
She adds that El Nido Resorts employees, 90 percent of whom are local hires, have been required to undergo these environmental training programs since the late 1990s.
“It is our hope that they also pass on the values inherent in these trainings to their families and neighbors.”
Suppliers like boatmen, contractors and fishermen are also given similar courses. Modules on ecological solid waste management, biodiversity conservation and water conservation have also been rolled out by El Nido Resorts trainers to local high schools and other communities since 2012.
El Nido’s widespread efforts to share the values of respecting and protecting the environment has been lauded by global sustainability organizations like the World Travel and Tourism Council, a forum of business leaders in the global travel and tourism industry. It has won World Travel Awards’ “Asia’s Responsible Tourism Award” and the Sustainable Hotel Award in the Sustainable Communities category by the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific, among other honors.