I HAD the opportunity to go to Tinglayan a few weeks back and visit Apo Whang-od, the oldest traditional tattoo artist in the Philippines (or possibly the world?). I got a tattoo from her shaped supposedly like a serpent eagle which is a symbol of a messenger.
I feel that being inked by a legend (and soon to be a National Artist) like Whang-od is an honor and at the same time, a responsibility. And because of this, I feel I need to be open of what I thought of my experience when I went there.
Our group left from Baguio very early in the morning and reached Tinglayan mid-morning that day. The roads going to Tinglayan are already concreted, and the view is great. We had to stop several times just to take photos of the great view. One of my favorites is the magnificent view of the “Sleeping Beauty”.
But the view going there or any other natural landscape in that town was not what the tourists had been visiting. It was all about Apo Whang-od. Local and foreign tourists converge in Barangay Buscalan, a village 16 kilometers away from the town’s poblacion, in order to get tattoos from her (or her heiresses apparent).
At the end of the concreted road, we hiked toward the village for two kilometers which took us a little over 1 hour to reach it. Barangay Buscalan is already energized but I had to endure long hours without mobile phone signal.
Commodity goods sold in the village have excessively high prices. They justified this by saying that they had to transport them from Bontoc or Tabuk and have it be hauled manually to the village. It’s a good thing that I avoid drinking soda because a brand of soda, the 1.5L size is P110, more than 200 percent of the suggested retail price (SRP) in the city.
The main source of livelihood of the households particularly in Barangay Buscalan is already shifting from farming to tourism services.
Since 2014, some residents have chosen to become guides for tourists visiting Apo Whang-od and are paid P1,000 for every group of five. At present, there are 60 accredited tour guides in Barangay Buscalan alone. This does not include the porters who are paid the same rate daily.
I am not particularly against this type of livelihood, but I feel that the government should somehow regulate their livelihood. I feel it is particularly high mainly because Buscalan and the visit to Whang-od is the only activity that tourists need guiding with, unlike in Sagada where there are more places to visit.
Tourism infrastructures like hotels and inns, food service businesses, etc. also contribute to income for the municipality. Making a rough calculation, it may be said that tourism contributes significantly to the municipality’s income sourced from the tertiary sector (services).
Income that are derived indirectly as a result of tourism, mainly in the secondary sector (manufacturing and wholesale/retail) benefit from the upsurge of tourism in the municipality.
Although the municipality collects a minimal tourism fee that is inclusive of environmental fees, there is a great concern for the degradation of the environment in Tinglayan, particularly in Buscalan.
Walking to and around the barangay, it was observed that there is no proper disposal of garbage. Non-biodegradable wastes like plastic, styrofoam, etc. are thrown anywhere.
Domestic and animal waste is poses a challenge, too. Pigs and other pets run around within the neighborhood. There are small waterways and canals that does not lead anywhere but the natural bodies of water contaminating them.
On the other hand, the culture of the people of Buscalan is threatened.
The culture is basically based on farming palay for their consumption.
Some men and women have chosen to focus on tourism-related activities, farming taking lesser priority. Men are choosing to become tour guides, while the women chose to tend to retail stores and homestay in the community.
They have chosen this because income gained from tourism activities is more than farming with lesser effort even. Asked if the time comes when they have no more rice to consume, they would rather buy it from other farmers than planting them.
The degradation of the environment and their culture is worsening exponentially. These may be implicit in nature but this affects not only the economy but the socio-cultural aspect of the barangay/municipality.
This has happened in many tourism sites, not only in the country but around the world. If this continues and not addressed immediately, the costs that are incurred from irresponsible tourism will far exceed the benefits from tourism gained by the barangay and the municipality.