Capitol to allocate P10M for Alcoy’s forest program
ALCOY town in southeastern Cebu will receive P10 million from the provincial government next year as part of the launching of the Capitol’s Big 5 community-based eco-tourism campaign.
A portion of the P10 million will go to funding the preservation of the Nug-as Forest, the only national forest reserve in Cebu located in Barangay Nug-as, Alcoy town.
The forest is considered a haven for bird-watchers since it shelters endemic and endangered birds in Cebu like the black shama or siloy, the Cebu flowerpecker and the Cebu hawk-owl.
Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale said the P10 million will also be spent to improve and create more access roads, and install water systems to provide safe drinking water for future tourists and bird-watchers in the area.
The Big 5 refers to the top five eco-tourism destinations in Cebu province, and the program is expected to be launched before this year ends.
The other southern towns included in the program were Alegria town for its farm-to-table lifestyle, Boljoon for its heritage sites, Argao for its delicacies and Aloguinsan for its Bojo River.
Aloguinsan town was recently recognized as one of Global Top 100 Sustainable Destinations for 2017 by Green Destination, an online global partnership that annually lists the 100, best sustainable, eco-tourism locations in the world.
Magpale congratulated Aloguinsan town and the Provincial Tourism and Heritage Council for maintaining Bojo River’s spot as well as keeping up with the competition.
Magpale said they hope to expand the program to include the northern towns of Cebu.
“It will depend on the outputs of the workshops and training-seminars among out tourism officers. Because this is what (Provincial Tourism Officer) Boboi (Costas) did in Bojo River too. Personnel first before infrastructure development,” Magpale said.
Magpale said she remained optimistic for Cebu’s tourism industry despite the cancellations of some tourists due to the travel advisory alert issued by their respective countries.
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