Benedict Reyes, PCSSD commissioner, updates reporters on the public hearings held for revised rules on the scuba diving industry.
(CDN Photo/Lito Tecson)
The Philippine Commission on Sports Scuba Diving (PCSSD) will finalize the revision of the 1978 Implementing Rules and Regulations governing the scuba diving industry in the country.
Last Wednesday, PCSSD headed by commissioner Benedict A. Reyes held the last leg of their public hearing for the revised IRR at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino.
“We will collate everything we got and will incorporate them into the IRR which we will implement by the first quarter of next year,” Reyes said.
Aside from Cebu, Reyes said they held public hearings in Palawan in Mindanao and Mabini in Batangas.
While scuba diving activities started early in the Philippines compared to Thailand and other countries in Asia, Reyes said the country didn’t take it seriously which resulted in Thailand becoming the leading scuba diving destination in the world.
Dive rate
“Hopefully this new IRR will spell out clearly what practices should be adopted by the scuba diving operators here in the country. That will result to more tourists coming here because they will feel more safe and secure not to mention that we are already very blessed when it comes to marine ecosystem,” he said.
Reyes said one of the issues they emphasized in the new IRR is the mandatory requirement of every dive shop to get accreditation from PCSSD.
“We emphasized this because we are aware that there are a lot of colorum operators. We want to police this more because this is the start of non-adherence to the standard requirements,” he said.
Penalties were also included in the IRR including revocation, imposition of suspension or cancellation of an establishment’s PCSSD accreditation.
Reyes said most of the stakeholders wanted PCSSD to impose a standard dive fee rate which they will collect for the local government units.
Huge revenues
“But that is not part of our mandate. We have been in talks with the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) to help us with this issue because some LGUs require a higher amount than the supposed P150 per day per area fee,” Reyes said.
Reyes said the scuba diving industry can help create jobs for locals who can be trained to become professional divers and facilitate diving activities as well.
“We estimate that 10 percent of the total tourists that visit the country go on scuba dving trips. This can still grow with a strengthened industry enabled by an effective IRR,” he said.
The country’s top market include the Singaporeans, Hong Kong nationals, Japanese, Koreans and the Europeans. Most Asian tourists come to the country for a weekend dive while the Europeans stay for a minimum of three weeks to a month and spend $2,500 a day.
“That translates to a huge revenues for the industry that is why we are really looking to stimulate growth for the industry and attract more divers to come here,” he said.
He said the Visayas region especially Cebu is a popular dive destination in the world with Cebu serving as their jump-off area to go to other areas like Bohol and Dumaguete.