ZAMBOANGA CITY—Santa Cruz Island, found off this city, has been added to the tourism cluster of the East Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Growth Area (Eaga) as part of a community-based initiative to improve the lives of the mostly poor residents in the area, it was learned recently.
The move came when the heads of the tourism-development agencies of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines (BIMP), visited the island, the white-sand beachfront of which is populated by members of the Sama-Bangingi tribe, the target beneficiary of a multiple-agency development project.
Tourism Assistant Secretary Arturo P. Boncato Jr., said Santa Cruz is the fourth site to be included in the BIMP-Eaga community-based ecotourism project. The first three are the Puerto Princesa Underground River in Palawan province; Lake Sebu in Lake Sebu town, South Cotabato province; and the Tibolo Trival Village in Santa Cruz municipality, Davao del Sur province.
He also said those behind the project are looking at sites with a tribal community as their target beneficiaries.
“In [including these] sites, we want…governments [to] pour in resources and support to develop them,” Boncato told the BusinessMirror.
As a result of their inclusion, the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority gave Lake Sebu P12 million and the Tibolo Tribal Village, P10 million.
Noraini Haji Tersad, special duties officer of the Brunei Development Department, told the BusinessMirror that her office has added to the project Kampong Malilas, a tribal village with long traditional houses. She added that it would also include another site, Kampong Kiudang.
Malaysia has included two sites in the project, as did Indonesia.
Tersad said she was impressed by the natural beauty of Santa Cruz, and agreed with how her counterpart in the Department of Tourism is planning to develop the island.
For his part, Gani Jumdani, a 74-year-old member of the Sama-Bangingi tribe, said he hopes the income his fellow tribesmen are generating from fishing would be augmented by whatever livelihood project the government may introduce alongside the improvement of the island’s beaches and the promotion of its 200-hectare lagoon.
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