Negros Occidental is home to another destination held up as an exemplar of ecotourism and community development, much like Danjugan Island in its southern part. Sagay City, perched on the northern tip of the province overlooking the Visayan Sea, is home to a number of eco-tourism hotspots that do wonders for both its community members and its natural environment.
Sagay City's Eco Destinations Shape Nature Conservation and Community-Based Tourism
Over the course of four days, we made our way to every corner of this laid-back city, an expedition that took us deep from a dense mangrove forest to a white sandbar, eventually leading to an artist village where we were graced with the presence of an irrepressible master of the arts.
Suyac Island Eco-Park
On Suyac Island, where a protective mangrove forest spans fifteen hectares alongside a mainland covering 1.8 hectares, the local community presently sustains and manages its own eco-park.
The local tourism unit's efforts, coupled with comprehensive training and support from the Tourism Promotions Board of the Philippines, have resulted in the community successfully adopting sustainable tourism practices.
Visitors to the island are welcomed with a heartfelt song and dance performance rooted in local culture and oral histories. Afterward, trained guides from the community take guests through the forest while imparting essential facts about different mangrove tree species before concluding the tour with a delectable lunch of local fare.
The mangrove forest's nine distinct species of mangrove trees proved their lifesaving importance during Typhoon Yolanda. One of the elderly members of the community shared that, other than a few fallen trees and minor roof damage, the island was spared from a devastating storm surge that proved deadly along many coastlines in the path of the typhoon.
"The mangroves saved our community; we just stayed in our homes. I even helped deliver a baby boy whom his mother named Yolando," she told us in her local language.
"Sustainable tourism" is a phrase so often bandied about that it has begun to sound like a buzzword, despite the reality that its success requires, at its heart, the willingness and ability to first establish a dialogue, implement best practices, and gain a deeper understanding and involvement of the local community.
Here on Suyac Island, however, the local government unit and the island residents have shown that sustainable tourism is more than just a catchphrase; it is a real and effective way for a community to take pride in its environment, protect it, and cultivate economic independence for itself.
Museo Sang Bata Sa Negros Children’s Museum
Real community empowerment knows no age limits. Consequently, here at the Museo Sang Bata Sa Negros (MSBN), youngsters aged eight to twelve act as insightful guides for visitors. Through the years, the museum’s Junior Guide Program has helped many children develop a lifelong appreciation for the sea. In fact, one of the first junior guides, who began the program in third grade, is currently pursuing a degree in Marine Biology.
The museum was established to spread awareness of marine wildlife, especially among the younger generation—particularly those who live in Sagay, where a large percentage of the local population relies on marine resources for their livelihood. During our visit, junior guides who joined the program in their early grade school years toured us around the museum and shared an abundance of knowledge that even I had never known beforehand.
Art Community in Bougainvillea, Old Sagay
“Imagine living in a community where an artist of Nunelucio Alvarado's stature resides,” wonders Helen Arguelles, Tourism Officer of Sagay City.
Indeed, Alvarado's creativity has filtered down to his neighborhood in Bougainvillea, Old Sagay, as evidenced by the brilliantly painted homes, the traditional folk-dancing skills of local schoolchildren, and the countless other individuals he has inspired to explore various art forms.
With a few quaint cafés dotting its long shoreline, the locality has become a must-visit destination in the city since transforming into a creative hub for regional artists.
Twice nominated for the prestigious National Artist award, Maestro Nune was a staple of Manila's art scene in his earlier years. Many of his paintings can be found preserved in major institutions, including the National Museum of the Philippines, the Singapore Art Museum, and the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, to mention a few.
He and his wife Sally now spend their time in his hometown of Sagay within their hand-hewn and painted art studio, creating new works every day while overlooking the 32,000-hectare Sagay Marine Reserve.
Trisikad Tours
The same neighborhood—known as the "community of colors" and where Maestro Nune resides—can be explored from the seat of a trisikad, a bicycle outfitted with a passenger sidecar. Labeled as the Sikad Tours, this initiative is yet another one of the many community-based tourism programs of Sagay City.
Visitors can take a trisikad ride through the community to view the colorful murals painted by local volunteer artists under the guidance of Syano Artlink, where Alvarado serves as Art Director.
Carbin Reef
Shaped like a tongue wagging out of the Rolling Stones’ iconic lips logo, Carbin Reef is part of the 32,000-hectare Sagay Marine Reserve established in 1999. The sandbar itself hides a rich abundance of marine life within its immediate 200-hectare area. Visitors to Carbin Reef can enjoy an array of water activities, such as snorkeling, freediving, scuba diving, beach-bumming, or simply taking drone and Instagram photos.
On our final day, before we headed to the neighboring province of Capiz, we took our sweet time on Carbin Reef, simply walking from end to end along the sandbar while flying my drone. As beautiful as it is at eye level, the view from above is equally or even more impressive. I can clearly see why Sagay City and the TPB work tirelessly to ensure that eco-tourism destinations like Carbin Reef are well taken care of and managed properly.
TPB’s 3-day CBT Workshop
Part of the reason we were in Sagay was to cover the three-day Community-Based Tourism (CBT) workshop conducted by the Tourism Promotions Board of the Philippines (TPB), the marketing arm of the Department of Tourism (DOT).
Even prior to the pandemic, then-TPB COO Marie Venus Tan and TPB marketing specialist Alberto Gadia Jr. had planned to hold a workshop in Sagay after being deeply impressed by the city's eco-tourism potential. Through the dedicated efforts of Gadia Jr. and the full support of current TPB COO Marga Nograles, the workshop caravan finally arrived in Sagay City.
Stakeholders from five eco-tourism destinations across Sagay City attended the workshop conducted by brand builder and idea accelerator Apple Allison, with invaluable support from the local government unit led by Tourism Officer Helen Arguelles.
Krisma Rodriguez, Director of Department of Tourism Region 6, also attended the workshop and emphasized the importance of providing the necessary training to community members in order to tap into the tourism industry—not only as a sustainable means of earning a living but also as a tool that actively protects the environment when executed correctly.
Following the workshop, which covered a variety of crucial topics including Business Development, Brand Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and the School of Sales and Influence, the TPB also donated starter kits to three eco-tourism associations. These included fiberglass kayaks for the Suyac Island Eco-Tourism Attendants Association and the Lapus-Lapus Floating Cottages Association, as well as livelihood materials for the Bougainvillea Sikad Guides Association.
