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Saturday, August 26, 2006
Ong: Petron's oil spill disaster and tourism
By Ted Aldwin Ong
Misreadings
BEING down with flu the past days, I can only watch in horror and disbelief the disaster wrought by Petron to Iloilo and the island Province of Guimaras over the television. While the tears that fell from the eyes of Guimaras Governor JC Rahman Nava delivers a message of desperation, one can only imagine the reactions of both the animal and plant creatures that were ruthlessly demolished by this man-made disaster from its habitat.
The Petron disaster, said to be the biggest in the world as far as environmental catastrophe is concerned, has far-reaching impact to the ongoing environmental preservation initiative of the Guimaras Provincial Government. What has been implemented for years were reduced to negative zero in just minutes?
These initiatives are designed as long-term interventions. The packaging is environmental preservation in harmony with sustainable development and Guimaras is a showcase of this concept. This is the reason why I am appalled by talks moving around that some tourism officials wanted the disaster story downplayed.
No matter how our tourism officials will downplay the Petron disaster, the obvious can no longer be discounted – Guimaras will suffer setbacks in terms of tourism development for it is not only mangoes that attract tourists to Guimaras, but its pristine beaches and preserved areas.
All these years, tourism has evolved. In the past, travelers marvel on the wonders of concrete monuments and pedestals while the opposite is happening today. We travel to see for ourselves endangered species thriving in once free environment to educate people of the clear evidence of human greed.
Not only that, sometimes it is displayed to see for ourselves how tourism initiatives has blatantly displaced animal species from its natural habitat. How these animal species have evolved because of rapid urbanization that gave way to conversions of forests into sprawling metropolis. How plants and animals ended in jars and viewed in museums. How they survived today because of climate change. How many indigenous communities were displaced to accommodate golf courses for leisure and relaxation.
These are realities and questions that comes back whenever a disaster like the one Petron has done to Iloilo and Guimaras. Questions that best explains why tourism officials in this country want disasters like the oil spill downplayed. We still have fresh memories of what oil spill has done to Semirara. The same memory nags us of the oil spill brought by Exxon Valdez in Alaska.
I believe that tourism initiatives could only start from what is existing in a particular place. What once considered an insignificant grass, flower, stone or insect is now at the center of attraction of many who understood environmental preservation and tourism. And those people who know what roles these species play for man's survival.
Instead of downplaying disasters, which is preventable in the first place, it could have been better if our tourism officials will put at the center stage its own initiatives calling for tourism investors to assist and invest in reclaiming what was once pristine in Guimaras.
On a yearly scale, our national government faces natural catastrophes that requires billions of people's money for calamity funds and puts tourism investments at halt, but seldom we hear our tourism officials downplay these setbacks. Instead these are meted with condemnation. Who can blame the storm despite its claim of responsibility?
The case of Petron oil spill disaster is different, there is a direct responsibility that calls for accountability and requires the highest condemnation from our tourism officials yet what we have are whispers that this disaster is being downplayed.
The Petron oil spill disaster has put tourism in the middle of the most complex of concerns. The disaster did not only put tourism investments at halt, it literally wasted existing investments in the area. The loss of livelihood remains unaccounted for and the cost for the environment is immeasurable. (Comments to tao.ssi@gmail.com)
(August 26, 2006 issue)
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