Wednesday, March 05, 2008 Antalan: Lucky to live in paradise By Roger P. Antalan Dateline: Igacos
THE Department of Tourism (DOT) has been working very hard to advertise the Philippines abroad, to entice and to invite foreign tourists to visit our island paradise in the Pacific. Great come-ons have been launched such, Visit the Philippines, Bring Home A Friend, WOW Philippines, Highlands to Islands, and many other marketing approaches. And yet, unlike our neighbors Thailand and Hongkong, we have not exceeded the 3 million per year visitor mark. What seems to be the problem?
During my first term as mayor (1998-2001), I joined the Philippine Tourism Caravan to the US. It was headed by the former Miss International, Gemma Cruz Araneta, the Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary at that time. The marketing blitz covered the major cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Washington DC. The sales talks were convincing, the video presentations were terrific, the cocktails were well attended, and Miss Araneta was one of the main attractions.
Among others, however, two things stuck in my mind. First, during small group discussions, especially among Filipino-Americans there were criticisms against the Philippine government. Erap was the president at that time. Second, not a few among the Fil-Americans demanded: "Can you guarantee our safety when we come to the Philippines?"
The late Sir Winston Churchill was better than some of these Filipinos when he quipped: "When I am abroad I always make it a rule not to criticize or attack the government of my country. I make up for lost time when I come home."
Unfortunately, there's a lot of own-country bashing among Filipinos. Just give a cursory reading of the daily papers and you will get an overdose of criticisms, attacks, plus all the violent crime reports imaginable. We love to put our bad foot forward, or our foot in our mouth, so to speak.
Sometimes the bad publicity comes from an unexpected source. During a flight to one of the cities of Mindanao, a flight stewardess engaged a foreign tourist in small talk. After quite a while the stewardess said: "Why are you going to this city in Mindanao. It's a dangerous place."
Recently, a travel advisory was issued by the Canadian government not to go to Mindanao. It happens that General Santos City has an important partnership with the city of Monckton in Canada. Because of the travel advisory the representatives of Monckton were hesitant to visit GenSan.
Mayor Pedro Acharon Jr. assured the visitors of their safety even stating that he will personally "guard them with his life." The coordinator of the project, groping for words, murmured that it is easy to make assurances because "you live in Mindanao." Another concern was that the travel insurance would be null and void if there is an advisory prohibiting travel to the place. Look at it from the point of view of a foreigner who has read a lot of the peace and order situation in Mindanao, not knowing that Mindanao is a big place.
Strictly speaking, there is no safe place in the world today considering the ever-present threat of terrorism, civil wars in some countries, not to mention the crazy people in every country who senselessly pull the trigger to kill innocents. England, Spain, the Holy Land, Japan, South America, to mention a few places, are not exactly safe destinations to visit. Bali in Indonesia used to be billed as the safest place. Not anymore.
New York is known to be the muggers' capital of the world. Paul Merton, an actor and a comedian has a joke about the Big Apple: "On my first day in New York a man asked me if I knew where Central Park was. When I told him I didn't, he said, "Do you mind if I mug you here?"
Of course, you can be mugged anywhere. Many years ago, I visited New York. Once, when I took a taxi, I asked the driver whether he has ever been mugged. He said: "I've been driving for twenty years. Never been mugged in New York. I took a vacation in a sleepy town in rural Virginia, I was mugged there."
A few years ago, the famous Pearl Farm Beach Resort was attacked by pirates. They were repulsed and left without abducting any guest. Two hours after the pirates were gone, I went to Pearl Farm. One of the things I asked was the safety of the foreign guests. There were 50 plus Koreans. "Are they checking out?" "No" the manager said. "Why?" The Koreans simply said;" There is a lot of shooting in Korea everyday."
Like most places in the world, GenSan, Davao City, IGaCoS and many places in Mindanao have their share of scary moments. But most of the time, many Mindanao towns and cities are peaceful and safe. Only recently, I found out that Mayor Christopher Piccio of Bilison, Antique often spends his free time staying in Pearl Farm with his American-born wife. The well-traveled mayor declares that "GenSan is peaceful, Davao City is a safe place to visit. Samal, I am often there."
I like this foreigner, married to Filipina, who calls the Island Garden City of Samal his home. He regularly motorbikes around the Island alone or with his wife. At one time, he said to me: "I love the beauty of this place. I like the people and love talking to them. Sorry for those foreigners who are afraid to come here. We are lucky. We live in paradise."
