Medellin officials upset over mention of town in forum

CEBU, Philippines -  The cluster tourism forum sponsored by the United Nations and the Department of Tourism recently held in the municipality of Daanbantayan has upset officials of the neighboring town of Medellin.

This after an official of Daanbantayan allegedly said that the reefs in Gibitngil Island are “victims” of dynamite fishing due to illegal fishing activities of fishermen from Kawit, Medellin, which drew reactions from Medellin officials.

“My point is if we are for clustering then we should bring out our positive sides, not point out the negatives of our neighboring LGUs if there’s any. Mura man og nangasuya sila. I don’t see the point of arguing that’s why we walked out kay ni-deviate na sa purpose of the forum,” said Medellin Vice Mayor Alfonso Lim.

Medellin Mayor Ricardo Ramirez also said they have a lot of underwater photos taken by their former American consultant, Johnny Kiener, which would show it’s not as bad as reported.

Ramirez suspects that the problem might be the fear that they might outshine Malapascua Island in Daanbantayan, which according to him is unrealistic.

“Our Funtastic Island (Gibitngil) cannot compare to it and besides, we cater to an entirely different clientele from theirs,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez explained they have only day tour facilities and do not have dive shops, no overnight accommodation and other facilities that Malapascua has.

“We only target students, employees of companies who conduct team building sessions or anyone with a limited budget because we have ridiculously low rates so it’s basically the masa that are our regular guests,” he said.

“Like I said, no need to argue among ourselves because we do not compete with other towns tourism industries,” he added.

But Daanbantayan tourism officer, Chanda Pañares-Romo, clarified that none from the local government unit had attended the said forum, including her as she was suffering from a fever.

Pañares-Romo said participants from Malapascua Island and Bantayan Island reportedly made the comments when she inquired from DOT.

“(I) Just want to make this clear and hope dili apilon ang politika ani coz wala jud taga LGU na naka-attend. Hope we are clear on this matter,” Romo said.

Ramirez asked though how come none from the LGU of Daanbantayan managed to attend when they were the hosts.

Romo explained that the UN and the DOT asked them if they could hold the forum in Daanbantayan and Mayor Augusto Corro approved the request.

“DOT only invited me and the Mayor to attend the forum for the Product Assessment Presentation,” she said. —/ATO (FREEMAN)