Bohol's Green Revolution

	Philippine Travel Articles (courtesy of )





	WE ARE LATE, I muttered. A dolphin sighting in the open sea is something you can not order from the Web. It was almost 8 AM and I didn't know if the dolphins and whales we had been promised to see could wait for us. It would be my first time to actually see dolphins minus their trainers and pail of fish. If there were any consolations, the ride from Panglao Island Nature Resort where we stayed, to Philippine Island Divers in Alona Beach was a quick streak of red, white, and lavander boungavillea-lined roads. Panglao Island, over two causeways from Bohol's capital city Tagbilaran, is famous for Alona Beach, the 800-meter palm-fringed, white-sand strip facing Bohol Sea. It is lined with resorts that offer the usual water sports plus scuba-diving, the island's popular pastime. It is also the natural takeoff point to Balicasag Island, a 30-minute outrigger boat ride to the wonders of Black Coral Forest, Garden Forest, Turtle Point, and Cathedral Wall; and Pamilacan Island, a rich fish sanctuary and breeding grounds for Risso's dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, pantropical spotted dolphins, long-snouted spinner dolphins, Fraser's dolphins, melon-headed whales, short-finned pilot whales, Bryde's whales, and sperm whales. In the last two years, dolphins here have never been friendlier. After a private and government-supported program imposed a ban on the hunting of whale sharks and manta rays in the surrounding areas in 1997, word got out undersea that humans are not harmful after all. On a good day with a good spotter, you can see dolphins swimming as close as one meter from your boat's bow - and if you're lucky, you can see a Bryde's whale or even a sperm whale. Conservationist Jojo Baritua, with the help of the World Wildlife Fund, Citibank, and the Philippine government, has successfully converted a few whale shark hunters to become spotters in his dolphin and whale watching program which started in 1997. The strategy is simple: Give viable alternative income for hundreds of families affected by the ban by involving them in conservation and eco-tourism efforts. Ben Birigay, our forty-something spotter, is one of these reformed fishermen. After more than 20 years of hunting manta rays and whale sharks - on a good day his group averaged between	(CLOCKWISE, FROM OPPOSITE PAGE) Panglao Island Nature Resort's artificial islet, the church and convent of Alburquerque, a playful clownfish, and a dolphin.
		25 to 30 five-ton whale sharks - Ben decided to stop after he was jailed in Cebu five years ago for whale shark hunting. Jojo claimed Ben is one of the sharpest spotters, being the one who led them to four sperm whales - a rare sighting - two years ago when they were with a Japanese documentary team. Halfway to Pamilacan, Ben, standing on the bamboo outrigger support, pointed 10 o'clock where we saw two bottlenoses jut out 250 meters ahead. Our boat slowed down and in the next minutes, dolphins appeared - first, the bottlenoses, then some Risso's (Look, the one with a blunt head!), a few Fraser's (striped sides) and pilot whales, and finally the spinners, a handful of showoffs who would airborne, flip, and twist. I didn't know what others felt during their first dolphin encounter, but I felt these playful mammals were actually happy to delight us. Soon, about six bottlenoses swam just three meters from our boat's prow. This I had to see. I crawled on the prow and lay flat-belly as I reached the edge. Ben was right: The total number of dolphins below is thrice the number you see on the surface. I saw around 15 gray bodies swimming five feet below us. From my position, I was actually able to point out excitedly the next dolphin which would surface. With one arm stretched towards the blue water, I experienced several moments when my fingertips were just three feet from the dolphins. It was like being "live" in a National Geographic show. Then, just when I was starting to get tired of counting, an amazing thing happened: As we neared the island, about a hundred dolphins rode in a broken flank escorting us from the right side of our boat. I could make out black, white, and gray bodies appearing and re-appearing in about a kilometer stretch of water. It was a grand show and I could only dream of an encore.

	AS WE NEARED THE ISLAND ABOUT A HUNDRED DOLPHINS RODE IN A BROKEN FLANK ESCORTING US FROM THE RIGHT SIDE OF OUR BOAT. I COULD MAKE OUT BLACK, WHITE, AND GRAY BODIES APPEARING AND RE-APPEARING IN ABOUT A KILOMETER STRETCH OF WATER.




	BOHOL IS PRETTY MUCH GREEN AND BLUE, WITH PATCHES OF BROWN HINTERLANDS: ROUGH COASTAL ROADS NEAR CEMENTING AND THE SIGNATURE CHOCOLATE HILLS.

	Green Revolution BOHOL, AN ISLAND THE SIZE OF BRUNEI located east of Cebu, is pretty much green and blue, with patches of brown hinterlands: Rough coastal roads near cementing, the signature Chocolate Hills (1,268 limestone haycock hills) in the town of Carmen, the sticky calamay or coconut jam delicacies in the town of Jagna, and the sepia tinge of antiquated santos and altars inside the 17th century Loboc and Baclayon churches. In 1565, the Spaniards peacefully gained the support of native island chieftain Datu Sikatuna through a blood compact with Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. In a life-size brass sculpture by National Artist Napoleon Abueva, the men, in subdued smiles, raise their glasses filled with wine and drops of blood and a toast to a promise of friendship and a lot of churches. The Jesuits built the first churches made of wood and thatch but by the time the Augustinian Recollects took over in 1768, there were already several churches made of coralstone blocks. The new missionaries just had to add stone belfries that doubled as watchtowers for marauding Mora pirates. The Spaniards discovered that the Boholanos were amiable and devoted to the new religion. But they were not pushovers. In 1744, Francisco Dagohoy, started a massive revolt against Spanish rule after a Jesuit curate of Inabanga refused to give a Christian burial to his brother who died in a duel in the service of the same priest. The 85-year rebellion, the longest in Philippine history, paved way to a revolutionary government that prevented missionary and church-building activity in the northern area. The Blood Compact (or Sandugo) was the first seed of the United	Nations, wrote the late Carlos Romulo, president of the fourth United Nations General Assembly. One day while having a round of drinks with the leaders of local and expatriate groups, I learned about their less bloody versions to promote Bohol as a world destination. There is the first Tourist Police outside Metro Manila, a joint project of the local government, the Philippine National Police, and the Boholano Foreign Friendship Foundation Inc. (BFFFI), a non-profit organization composed of expatriates who aim to provide local jobs and livelihood through tourism. Patterned in Thailand, they have been trained by German master diver and celebrity security expert Holger Horn to handle tourist concerns. Forty-three of them were dispatched last March during the Catholic Holy Week celebration and the 25 Alona resorts owners and their guests commended their presence. In the same month, BFFFI headed by German Hans Schoof and local culturati Lutgardo Labad, assembled a cultural exchange show in front Baclayon Church's vegetal motif wooden altars, one of the finest examples of Philippine baroque art. Last March 24, both the local and foreign group who all came dressed in barongs and ternos were treated to live performances of national music group champions Loboc Children's Choir and Dimiao Children's Rondalla (a Philippine string-instrument group). Hans revealed they will convene for a second ecological-cultural-sports extravaganza in Candijay this September, two months after they have wrapped up the first Guitar Festival in Panglao Island in celebration of the Sandugo International Festival. Bohol has become home to pet projects happily gone big. Carlito Pizarras and his friends used to hunt tarsier (an endangered prehistoric primate that looks like a cross between E.T. and a koala the

				(CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT) The famous Chocolate Hills; Loboc's Children Choir; and the brightly lit Baclayon Church. (OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT) Banacon Island's mangrove plantation - the biggest in the country; Hinagdanan Cave and its cool pool; the Blood Compact monument; local girl with Philippine tarsier; Handayan Island's fisherfolk; Panglao Island Nature Resort's reception area; Alona Palm Beach's lovely pool; Sun Apartelle's Irena Heberer; and a seafood lunch at Alona Tropical Resort.




	size of an apple) for taxidermy projects. Then in the late '70s he noticed that the tarsiers were getting harder to find in the forests - thinned by slash-and-burn farming - near Corella 10 kilometers from Tagbilaran. He convinced his companions to stop hunting while he tried to breed tarsiers at home. In two years, he became the only man in the world ever to successfully breed tarsiers in captivity. This self-made tarsier expert can also find the primate and even tell its sex by a faint odor indistinguishable by most in the forest. Naturally, he has a shoo-in job in Philippine Tarsier Foundation. Today, they have 13 tarsiers

	under their close care while around a thousand more roam freely in the secondary growth forest near the breeding center.	(ABOVE) Ananyana's classic pool and (BELOW) Bohol Experiment Center's agricultural tour.
	In the town of Dimiao, a 20-minute ride from Tagbilaran highlighted by a picturesque sea cliff road, recycling of tin cans, tetra packs and even corn cobs into bags, Christmas lanterns and other handicrafts has become a lifestyle and source of livelihood for its people. Some of the bags made from beverage tin cans and foils are actually chic - a Fil-Canadian girl who was with us promised to take them to New York. Although the town, known for its old church with walled cemetery and stone-vaulted chapel ruins, its white sand beach with a lagoon is slowly becoming a rich fish sanctuary. Mayor Cynthia Andame, heeding a call to develop local tourism from Governor Erico Aumentado, has built basic cottages with hammocks in the area. She has also installed a guardhouse and lookout point to police dynamite fishing. These actions have earned her town a Presidential Award for Environmental Development last year. Far north in Banacon Island off the coast of fishing town Jetafe lies the biggest mangrove plantation in the country. And it was all started by one man, the late Eugenio Paden who wanted to see thick bakauan bato (Rhizophora stylosa) trees instead of tidal mudflats. In 1960s he gathered the first seedlots from neighboring Calituban, Jagolia and Putik islands and planted them on Banacon's southwestern shore. Soon, people followed his deed, especially when they saw him harvesting poles and selling them. In 1995, the mangrove plantation was turned over to the Department of Environment and National Resources for protection and maintenance. Today, it has grown to 485 hectares, sustaining about a hundred families dependent on its wood and foreshore marine resources such as finfish, shells, crabs and other mollusks and crustaceans. The sight is unbelievable. The mangrove is bigger than the dry land itself, which is roughly 11 hectares. From afar in the morning light, it looks like one long, giant wreath of yellow-green leaves against a sea of blue. After transferring to a smaller outrigger, we glided slowly to Banacon's Paden's Highway, a three-kilometer long water passage bordered on both sides by thick mangrove mazes. In low tide with just knee-deep water, we jumped off and closely examined the few fingerlings that swam above the bakauan roots. Photographer Dakila Angeles and I would have loved to venture deeper and meet the creatures of the forest but our guide had found a foot-long sea snake near our entrance. Well - the sun was high and it was almost lunch anyway.




	THE MILD CRUISE AND FILLING LUNCH ALMOST LULLED ME TO SLEEP BUT THE LANDSCAPE'S WIDENING CANYON AND THE UNFOLDING RURAL SERENITY KEPT ME EXCITED. Dream Escape BOHOL TOPS my All-time Most Memorable Lunches in One Province list. There was this burger I had at high noon in a cafeteria on top of a hill overlooking Chocolate Hills. Its taste was so-so really, but after a one-and-a-half hour smooth and bumpy ride to see seemingly tempting giant Hershey Kisses (from 40 to 120 meters high) that cover the field up to the horizon (confectioner's heaven, yum...), any ^vsandwich would taste extra special. But the burger was really just an appetizer for a lovely late lunch of grilled fish, prawns, and pork aboard a barge decorated for a town fiesta with rainbow bandiritas (small flags) and tropical plants. The Loboc River Cruise, Bohol's top tourist draw, begins on a bank near Loboc Church, a 400-year old relic and veritable witness to the destructive floods that periodically swept the town. You can see it from the old painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the ceiling or on a series of flood marks near the reconstructed pulpit. Although there was a promise of a series of waterfalls in the end of upstream cruise, we chose to travel downstream towards Loay where the river empties into Bohol Sea. The fresh coconut juice we had seemed a fitting drink amidst all this greenness - the acacias, bamboos, ferns, and palm trees lining the banks. The mild cruise and filling lunch almost lulled me to sleep but the landscape's widening canyon and the unfolding rural serenity kept me excited. There were several young boys, propped on top of a long acacia branch just above the water, swinging and diving with acrobatic flair towards the turquoise river. Meanwhile, a lone fisherman, wearing a wide brimmed hat, paddled lazily towards the sea. Our lunch at Pamilacan Island reverberates most in my mind because of its surrealism. After riding with hundreds of dolphins, we arrived in a white beach where an old ruin of a Spanish tower stood. Two women were busily shuttling plates with food on a wooden table by the beach while a little girl swished away the flies with what looked like a pom-pom on a stick. I walked towards a church with a row of cacti for a fence. I went in, but only after the fishermen who were cleaning their net of seaweed smiled approvingly back at me. Inside, there were fading watercolor paintings of Christ's passion and a large century-old cross with Latin inscriptions at the altar. There was a wisp of children's laughter in the breeze. They seemed to be having a lot of fun so I followed the source to the beach. There, I played their games, floated like a log and let myself be carried back by the waves. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the tickling sensation of surf and sand. Suddenly, stirred by indecipherable shouts, I saw a flying fish darting near my feet.
		Beauty Variety IT WAS WAY PAST MIDNIGHT, but the German divers in their 30s and 40s were still spirited. The women were dancing on top of the Safety Stop bar table while the men clapped and hooted in encouragement. Their zest was infectious, prompting owner Kurt Biebelmann, a German expatriate living in Alona, to ring the bell for another round of complimentary drinks. There's reason to celebrate: Despite the aftermath of 9/11 and the negative publicity the Philippines sometimes gets, there's a steady arrival of European divers and adventurers who are usually booked in for a month. They take lessons with English or German instructors and explore Bohol's undersea variety. When they have seen enough, they head to the surface to discover Bohol's dreamy landscape, network of waterfalls, rivers, and caves, old churches, and friendly people. "Why would they fly 30 hours across the world with lots of stopovers just to lie on the beach?" asked Patrick Ritter, part-owner of Ananyana, an idyllic boutique resort with a classic black pool on Doljo Beach. "There are bigger beaches in Greece, Turkey, and Spain and they don't have to fly so far. They see something special in Bohol - its dive spots, culture, or people." Bohol is on a roll. Last October, it became the first province in Asia ever to be awarded an International Organization for Standard (ISO) 14001 rating for environment and ecology by Cubi of Germany. During the recent Philippine Travel Mart, it placed second to Palawan, beating Cebu and Boracay, for the Best Destination award. Today, Governor Aumentado ups his province's card by developing agri-tourism in the town of Ubay. Expect a big rodeo show here come January but year-round you can visit the Philippine Carabao Center and the Bohol Experiment Center, where a young anthurium plant can be had for 10 pesos. This month, with a newly constructed runaway, its airport in Tagbilaran opens to regular flights of Philippine Airlines. "There are two kinds of visitors of Bohol," Hans revealed. "One is the tourist who comes and goes, and the other, like me, who changes homelands." \| HOW TO GET THERE: Philippine Airlines flies to Tagbilaran thrice a week.