Coordinating the colors of Coron

MANILA, Philippines - Al Linsangan is never without his smartphone. Whether he is at his office in the Palawan town of Coron, showing around a van of tourists the local souvenir shops or the Coron market, or guiding visitors through various stops on a daytrip to Coron Island, he is continually clicking through the buttons of his phone, checking on his e-mails. Since Coron received its first Internet line in 2007, he was one of the first adopters of the technology. It was the most convenient way to keep in touch with tourists, both local and foreign, who seek his services.

Al and his wife Mae run Calamianes Expeditions and Ecotours, a local tourism provider that enlists the support of local and tribal communities in giving visitors to Coron a unique view of this part of Palawan. From their office at Corong Galeri, the Linsangans’ souvenir shop that features art and handicrafts produced by the Tagbanwas, Mae keeps tab of e-mails that come in daily. Al is the man on the ground, coordinating the day’s activities with the different suppliers that provide the services required by tourists.

When Al opened Corong Galeri, it served as a one-stop shop for the few tourists who strayed in this part of northern Palawan. There were very few local tourists who ventured to this part of the country. He remembers as a child a European who braved the rough roads just to see the town, the first “tourist” he recalls straying to Coron. Until local budget airlines offered Busuanga as a destination, the visitors he toured around the area were mostly Europeans. Nowadays, of the 400 tourists who come into town daily, more than half are Filipinos.

He remembers that when he was just starting, the foreigners would just show up at his doorstep bringing referrals from a previous guest he showed around. It was a maddening operation, since the only form of communication in town was the telephone at the local telegraph office. If he got a call from Manila or abroad, the operator would have to request them to call back after a few minutes; during that time, someone would run to his house informing him about the call.

When cellphones became a means of communication, Al was quick to jump on the bandwagon. Smart Communications Inc. was the first telecommunications firm to set up a signal tower in Coron in 2002. It proved to be a boon to the business because he could finally receive calls from his office or at home.

“It was a big change from running to the telegraph office to get a call,” Al recalls. “When I got my first cellphone, I didn’t realize you could conduct business so easily. I would just have to reply to an inquiry, and that was that.”

It may have been a convenient means of communication, but when he had to send up to nine messages at a time just to answer an inquiry, it proved to be a tiring one. Sometimes, he would get the same kind of inquiries from would-be clients and keying in the same response proved to be an effort.

When Smart brought Internet service to Coron in 2007, it was so much easier to reach his clients. Al recalls that when he and his wife had to take their child to Manila to be treated for dengue fever, it seemed like he was never away from work.

“There I was at the hospital, watching over my child, and I would be busy responding to inquiries from my clients,” he admits. “I only had to coordinate with my partners in Coron on details about the day’s tour. My guests would be outside my office at 7 a.m., and someone was there to meet them and take them to the pier. At the end of the day, they would come back to my office, looking for me, to thank me about the day they had. I just could not tell them that all that time I was at the hospital in Manila.”

And yes, he says the tourists would be busy uploading photos of their trip online at the end of the day. This way, more people come to know about Coron, Al says. The Internet shop he also operates is always humming with business.

“I have already bought so many card readers because guests would wear them out quickly from having to plug in their memory cards,” he adds. “But it’s good business. And those photos show the world what Coron has to offer.”

While Coron Island may be quite a distance from Coron town, there is a strong signal running throughout the Calamianes, as there are enough Smart base stations to cover all the major islands in the area. Smart has installed 12 3G/High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and GSM base stations to serve the Calamines group of islands, five of which are dedicated to Coron town. That’s why even on open sea, Al is busy with his cellphone, updating his wife on the day’s business or following up on tour reservations for the next day. And yes, he is always busy answering e-mails on his smartphone, too. Indeed, in the tourism business, Al says communication is key in ensuring quality of service not only to his guests but also to all his partners.

When Al talks about his brand of ecotourism, he never hesitates to acknowledge all the people who work together to make it a reality — from the boatmen who ferry guests to the different destinations around the Calamianes islands, the van rental service that drives visitors from the airport at Busuanga to Coron town, the local food stall at the market that cooks up the day’s lunch, the Tagbanwas who keep an eye on the different landmarks and sights on Coron Island, to the boat makers on nearby Lajala Island who fashion the vessels that carry tourists around the area. It is a tightly knit organization. For every boat that goes out to sea, seven families benefit from its earnings; Al has five boats devotedly working daily with him.

Al is a native of Coron. His family has lived for five generations in Coron town. After he finished his Economics course, he realized a promise he made to himself to get to know the Tagbanwas better. He lived with them for two years, learning the secrets of Coron Island and the ways of the tribes who live there. It took a while before the natives opened up to him; today, they respect him for helping launch an ecotourism program that provides them with a source of income, help conserve their natural resources, and educate tourists of the need to preserve the environment.

The concept of ecotourism isn’t new. Al simply adapted a previous program that was implemented for a short time by a defunct tourism agency. With his knowledge of the environment, gained from working on the government-funded Sustainable Environment Management Program for Northern Palawan, he fashioned tour packages that do not just offer fun to holidaymakers but also a chance to experience up close the Tagbanwas of Coron Island.

The moment you step out of the airport at the town of Busuanga and travel the 30-minute ride via the national highway to Coron town, there are signs offering a P650 daytrip around Coron Island, the cheapest tour package available in the area. Credit must go to Al’s expertise at liaising with the locals. By pooling different groups together and cutting out the middleman — in this case, the tour operator — everybody gets a fair amount at the end of the day.

“It was hard to organize them at the beginning because it was a new idea for them,” Al explains. “I told them to give me the best price they can offer for their services, a price that wouldn’t shortchange them. When I summed it all up, I found that I could offer a P650 tour package. You won’t find anything priced as low as that anywhere here.”

* * *

“Internet for All” is an advocacy of Smart Communications to bring the World Wide Web within the reach of every Filipino. To further the advocacy, Smart tapped three of the country’s renowned young photographers — Joan Bitagcol, Apple Tapan, and Jake Versoza — to travel around the country and capture compelling images that showcase how the Internet is changing and improving the lives of people.