Hometown group wields Romblon fiesta to tap overseas Pinoy investment
by JEREMAIAH M. OPINIANO

MANILA – A US-based migrants’ association with roots in the Philippine province of Romblon is wielding the power of the Filipino fiesta to boost investment of overseas Filipinos in its hometown’s tourism potential.
The United States-based Romblon Discussion List-Cultural, Livelihood and Educational Assistance in Romblon (RDL-Clear) is harnessing the province’s biennial fiesta this April, which officials said would catch money for its ecological tourism project.

The Spanish colonization of the country in late 16th century has altered the fiesta as a religious ritual related to wealth, weddings, or war, into a politico-religious activity related to a Roman Catholic saint. Nonetheless, the fiesta remains a deep tradition among Filipinos, celebrated during the summer months beginning March and, according to several studies, the reason for increased remittance by Filipinos overseas.

Dubbed “Sanrokan 2006,” the Romblon fiesta on April 6 to 8 will have a three-day global convention as its centerpiece, which is expected by RDL-Clear to also produce an advisory body that will lead a province-wide effort on eco-tourism.

RDL-Clear-USA volunteer Luvie Fopalan-Lumang told the OFW Journalism Consortium that they aim to raise some P400,000 (nearly US$?7737 at US$1=P51.70) as seed fund for an eco-tourism park project in the municipality of Odiongan, one of 17 municipalities comprising Romblon.
Data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) and Peace and Equity Foundation show that in 2000, Romblon has 3,087 overseas workers—with the municipalities of Santa Fe (764), Odiongan (504), Romblon (331), Ferrol (248), and San Agustin (237) having the most number of migrant worker households.

Based on a study by the Asian Development Bank, the investment potential from these overseas workers is worth US$12.549 million.
Based on an ADB study on remittances, each overseas Romblomanon remits an estimated US$340 every month. In current exchange rates, that translates to US$1.050 million (P54.26 million) monthly.

This amount excludes other revenue potentials and sources during and after the global convention, says RDL-USA executive director Ismael Fabicon.

Fabicon said added revenues are expected from the Kanidugan festival, the Miss Sanrokan pageant, the launching of WOW! Romblon with the Department of Tourism (DOT), a food fair, a bicycle run, a community medical mission and education activity, and boat racing and fishing tournaments.

These activities also aim to generate participation from all residents of Romblon, a 1,533-square kilometer province spread in seven islands and 21 islets in the Sibuyan Sea.

RDL-Clear hopes these activities would push the bid of the country’s fifth poorest province to stem a 55.2-percent poverty incidence rate.

Romblon’s marvels
FOPALAN-LUMANG said RDL-Clear chose eco-tourism to help the province leap from poverty because, for one, it has mountains and forests with “virgin natural deposits.”

An example is Mt. Guiting-Guiting in Sibuyan Island that the DOT declared as one of 29 eco-tourism sites in the country having species of flora and fauna “found nowhere else” in the world.

Romblon’s white sand beaches can also be alternatives to nearby Boracay Island, Fopalan-Lumang claims.

The provincial government website’s data showed that the island has 22 beaches and resorts, 17 water falls, five caves, and three mountains fit for hiking.

These include the six-year-old Aglicay Beach Resort in the municipality of Alcantara. Situated in Brgy. Comod-om, the 33-hectare resort was established by the couple Guillermo and Glenda Martinez, retirees from Indiana, USA.

Guillermo, a former US physician, was quoted in a newspaper that he is building rows of bungalows and kiosks, a clubhouse, and several sports facilities on his property to lure more tourists from Boracay, which is a two-hour boat ride via Odiongan.

Aklan Governor Carlito Marquez was quoted by government media as saying that Boracay posted a total of 499,452 tourist arrivals in 2005. The Philippine News Agency quoted Marquez as saying that most of these were local tourists (343,713), the rest foreign visitors (155,739).

DOT information on regional travelers in the Philippines (from January to June 2005), however, do not have data on tourists going to Romblon.
Data from the World Travel and Tourism Council revealed that the country’s travel and tourism sector was expected to generate P558.7 billion (US$10 billion) of economic activity last year, or a 7.5-percent growth from 2004. The WTTC forecast the country's travel and tourism to grow to P1.53 trillion (US$24.4 billion) by 2015.

Ferdie Escoton of the nongovernment Sentro para sa Ikauunlad ng Agham at Teknolohiya (Sikat) said that if 13 marine sanctuaries are established via local government ordinances, and are promoted, the province could expect to earn P10 million in revenues a year, with a 10 percent to 15 percent annual growth rate.

Escoton, who was also born and raised in Romblon, added that a community-based eco-tourism approach could bring sources of income to 300 families, increasing also between 10 percent and 15 percent every year.

Roaming Romblon
STILL, challenges remain, said Odiongan Mayor Jemly Fernandez.
Fernandez revealed during the Sanrokan 2006 launch early January that her counterpart mayors have allocated budgets for tourism. However, since these mayors seem to give a low priority to tourism, Fernandez said the budget is divested to other projects.

Tourism officer Vince Fopalan added that because of lack of funds, there is a lack of information materials about, and marketing of, Romblon’s tourist wonders

On a national level, interest in eco-tourism is “still low” for the past 10 years despite the existence of the 29 eco-tourism sites, Jose Lorenzo Tan of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Philippines said in the National Eco-tourism Congress last December.

While some seven eco-tourism sites have successfully attracted investments, 22 other sites—including Mt. Guiting-Guiting—did not generate much investments, Tan was quoted by newspapers as saying during the tourism congress in Pampanga.

This year’s Sanrokan— “sharing” in the vernacular tongue—comes four years after the first one, staged as a fundraising dinner dance event in Romblon, Romblon, and two years after the one in Los Angeles, California.
Formed in 1998 as an online discussion list, RDL-CLEAR is committed to help the home province through projects in livelihood, health, education, cultural preservation, and environment such as the protection of coastal
resources in Brgy. San Roque in Calatrava.

Romblon is known as the “Marble Capital of the Philippines,” with an estimated 120 varieties of the minerals. It also holds large deposits of kaolin clay, nickel, magnetism, quartz, silica, zinc, copper, silver limestone, and sulfide ores.

However, a poverty map by the Peace and Equity Foundation showed that the municipalities with large percentages of indigent families are Santa Maria (72.6 percent), Banton (69.7), and Corcuera (59.3). Romblon has some 263,000 residents.

Table 1: Overseas Workers from Romblon

Source: Peace and Equity Foundation (2005) citing 2000 figures from the National Statistics Office
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