I must really be growing old. I have told people on multiple occasions already that Metro Manila is getting too crazy for me.
I hate the traffic. I do not want to step inside malls as much as possible. I do not like the nightlife, except for the occasional dinners and movie time. I hate the noise and air pollution, from those busses all the way to the motorcycles. I do not understand why we all have to be in a rush. In short, I just do not like the quality of life here anymore.
I believe that I am not alone in this thinking. And I was proven right, I guess, when I was in Gumaca, Quezon, last weekend.
You see, I met there Municipal Administrator Elmo P. Caralian, who told me that before going back to the province, he used to work in a business-process outsourcing company in Alabang.
At first, Caralian said he was hesitant to go back to his province, but now that he is firmly established there, he just do not see any reason for him to go back to the madness of Metro Manila.
Yup, there is just so much you can take from the bright lights of the big city. At some point, the majority of us would be saying that enough is enough already. Dang, the 20-year-old me would be laughing so hard at me now for that statement.
But that is getting ahead of the story. I was in Quezon last weekend because the office of the Department of Tourism (DOT) Region 4 Director Rebecca V. Labit sent me an invitation. Saying yes to it was a no-brainer. Getting out of Metro Manila, even for a couple of days, was just what I needed.
I know it was still work, but, again, getting out of Metro Manila was literally and figuratively a breath of fresh air for me.
In Tayabas Labit told me how Calabarzon and Quezon province, in particular, have grown as tourist destinations.
According to Labit, Calabarzon welcomed 21.61 million tourists in 2015, with Quezon province getting 5.29 million, or 24.47 percent, of the total with Kamay ni Hesus in Lucban, the Pahiyas Festival, Arañat Baluarte, Cagbalete Island and Niyogyugan Festival as the main attractions.
Labit said, for those traveling to the region, expenses are 20-percent cheaper as compared to other tourism destinations in the country. She told me that, unlike other places, where a tourist would need to spend P4,000 on the average, in their place it is just P1,800 daily.
No wonder more foreign tourists are starting to flock to the region, with Japan registering an unbelievable increase of 127 percent.
Other nationalities discovering and rediscovering Calabarzon include the Koreans, Americans, Chinese, Thais, Australians, Indians, Malaysians, Singaporeans and the Dutch.
Anyway, one of the attractions mentioned by Labit was the Arañat Baluarte in Gumaca, and that was where I was last Sunday.
Remember that I mentioned earlier that I had a conversation with their municipal administrator? Well, I also had a good talk there with their newly elected Vice Mayor Dr. Elchor P. Caralian.
He told me that they have experienced high growth in tourism arrivals since 2010, as the DOT started promoting their province with the highlight being their annual three-day Arañat Baluarte Festival, which is held during the Feast Day of San Isidro—the patron saint of farmers.
Caralian said that, during the festival, all of their nine hotels, with a capacity of 500, are fully booked, with homes taking in transient guests.
This is still one concern for tourism in the country. There is just not enough hotels and accommodations outside of the big cities. With more people having the financial capacity to travel, this is one area that really needs to be addressed.
Anyway, the vice mayor said they are also increasingly on the radar of foreign tourists, judging by the marked increase of Koreans, Americans and Taiwanese who are going to their municipality.
Well, count me in as one of those first-time visitors to their place. Aside for the fact that I cannot take more than a couple of sip of lambanog, the experience for me as a tourist there was unbelievable.
I had the chance to go through the 18 baluartes in the morning, and all of their designs were exceptional. Oh, and there are food on the sides of every street, showcasing the various delicacies in the municipality.
The main attraction of the baluartes are those fruits and vegetables that hang in them. What makes it really fun, though, was that after the procession, which starts from the Cathedral of San Diego de Alcala, passes through a baluarte, all of those hanging there will slowly be let loose for everyone to get.
Watching from the Gumaca gym, the event was so festive, and the number of people gathered on the street was enormous. When the fruits and vegetables down from one of the baluartes, it was virtual pandemonium. It was exhilarating to watch. I thought to myself that people could actually get hurt there. But it was really fun.
Next year I promise to be back in Gumaca and will not just be a bystander. I will go after those vegetables until I get enough to cook pakbet.
Where am I leading to with all of this? Well, I just want to point out two things.
If you think Metro Manila is where all the fun is, wait until you get to the provinces. There are a lot of things to do outside of the cities and they are more fun, unadulterated and less expensive.
The other thing is Gumaca, which is 221 kilometers away from Manila, is actually a thriving place. It has been reclassified twice upward over the last two years. It is now a first-class municipality.
Gumaca has 668 registered business establishments. They have some of the big banks in the country, along with several financing offices, construction and electrical stores, and industrial companies.
Caralian told me that they are in the process of doing reclamation covering 9 hectares. They are also constructing a 4,000 seat-capacity convention center and that two of the biggest supermarkets in the country are knocking on their door. Not bad at all for a municipality with a population of 72,000.
Will that be enough to entice someone working in Metro Manila to leave the craziness of the city and move to the province? Probably not at the moment. But there is potential in Gumaca and there are probably other municipalities out there that are also growing fast.
At the very least, Gumaca is one place where we can go to escape the stressful city life.
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Last week I wrote about renewable energy and One Renewable Energy Enterprise Inc. The company President and CEO Erel Narida sent me a rejoinder.
Thank you for the write-up and the nice words for our endeavor. Just need to highlight something.
You might have missed my point on residential household. Two types with battery (off-grid stand-alone, independent of DU) and without battery (on-grid). The payback for off-grid is correct; it may take you 15 years minimum, while for on-grid, eight years. You will have more savings with on-grid (projected kilowatt-hour rate 3.50 based on build cost), while off-grid will be three times that, because of storage battery. In terms of price, off-grid—280,000 per kW, while on-grid—120,000 per kW, so depending on your motivation to go solar, either independence from the grid or savings, either way, the system is flexible. The main challenge is how much you are willing to invest. So being expensive as a system becomes relative to your motivation.
Hope this will clarify some points. Keep in touch.
For comments, suggestions, and reactions, I can be reached at raalzona@yahoo.com.
Image credits: Rodel Alzona