SANTA RITA -- Ten people would have died from the coronavirus pandemic, the average daily death toll, in the whole country just before 19-year-old Bryan Hernandez would have risen from bed.
A sudden ring from his bedside alarm clock jolted him from what could have been a well-earned sleep from a week of school work and the previous night's sudden rain made that Saturday morning even more tempting to stay in bed.
But the lull of a long sleep and the danger of coronavirus infection will not deter the young bike-rider from donning his gears and bike outfit for a 3:00 a.m. ride to Santa Rita Eco Park. In fact, the prospect of keeping the body healthy against possible infection has been his motivation to build immunity through sport.
And with enough leisure time due to quarantine restrictions and not having to attend face-to-face classes, the young cyclist would have to hit the trail with his of six companions from their town in Minalin to the town of Santa Rita, peddling a distance of some 15 kilometers at 3 a.m. and would have returned home just before his 9 a.m. class.
Hernandez is among the new breed of young health enthusiasts who have been attracted to cycling during this pandemic also because of the opportunity to embark on activities in the company of friends in the middle of long idle hours brought by the pandemic.
And with the availability of new and improved roads in Pampanga and the accessibility of eco-tourism spots that provide more attractive sights, cycling has become a safe and enticing hobby to get into.
Almost every weekend, he and his friends chart their cycling route among Pampanga's most picturesque eco-tourism destinations. These eco-tourism spots have attracted a steady stream of cyclist and bikers specially during this pandemic. But aside from the usual gears, they also bring face masks to be worn during stopovers and disinfectants just to be on the safe side.
Hernandez credits this to the fact that social media had played a big role in making the said areas popular among health buffs.
"These areas provide more attractive views. There are safe roads that are away from busy traffic making them ideal places to jog and bike. People post photos of these areas and the next thing you know joggers and bikers would arrive and add these areas to the places they have "conquered" in their health routine," Hernandez said.
Noticing the surge in the number of bikers and joggers, various local government units who manage eco-parks in Pampanga have imposed health restrictions to prevent health enthusiasts from mingling in close proximity.
Man-made Eco Parks
One such place is Santa Rita Eco Park. Located in a portion of the Fidel V. Ramos Megadike along its West Lateral Side, the eco-park sits on top of the portions of the dike in Barangays San Juan and San Isidro.
Here, visitors are advised to wear masks and people loitering around to enjoy the view are asked to keep a safe distance from one another. Regular police patrols also ensure that minimum health standards are followed.
At a height of 30-meters, the eco-park provides a picturesque view of the town of Santa Rita to the south and what remained of the lahar-ravaged barangays of Bacolor town to the north.
Opened in December 4, 2015, the eco-park was the brainchild of then former Mayor Yolanda Pineda. A few years ago, the area had been regularly visited by tree planting missions organized by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in cooperation with non-government groups. The full-grown trees like acacia, narra, mahogany and many other tree varieties at the eco-park were the products of the several tree planting programs conducted by the DENR.
But it was Mayor Pineda who led a town-wide effort to beautify the area and turn it into an eco-tourism destination. Portions of the dike were assigned to the ten barangays of the town. Each section was turned into a showcase garden decorated with recyclable materials. The idea was to turn the area into a functional park using materials that could be shown as examples for environmental conservation.
At the eco-park, old tires from trucks and other large vehicles were used as fences and painted with vibrant colors.
Other old tires were cut in half and served as pots for hanging plants. Areas of the elevated walk-way of the park features old bathroom tubs cut in half and turned into chairs. Bigger tubs are filled with concrete and turned into tables accented with discarded toilet bowl seats which were also filled with concreted and turn into actual functioning chairs. All around the park, ways of turning various materials into decorative and functional reusable items are showcased in every possible way along the three-kilometer park.
The park attracts regular visitors from tourists, cyclists and joggers because of its well-paved roads. Health buffs visit the area in the early morning and late afternoon. Families, lovers and tourists visit the area for leisurely walks or to bask under the shade of trees that surround the park.
The Municipal Government of Santa Rita had been launching its regular tree planting missions within and around the eco-park. Taking advantage of the ideal location of the park, the town has also hosted health events like zumba marathons, biking events as well as clean up drives.
So popular is the eco-park that it had even generated its own cycling group -- the Santa Rita Eco-Park Bikers Club, members of which participate in clean-up drives organized by the local government.
Various bike groups from neighboring towns of Guagua, Porac, Minalin, Bacolor and the City of Fernando make use of the park for their cycling events or at least include the area as part of their regular cycling trail.
To better improve the area, the municipal government recently unveiled a three storey-structure that features a full storey-sized image of the Italian Saint Rita of Cascia. The image stands atop a round open-air structure as its base. The structure is adorned with columns and images of the patron saints of the town's different barangays.
Every December, the town's Duman Festival, a food festival that celebrates the cultural importance of the town's local delicacy -- duman -- is held at the eco-park. The festival features night time all-fresco dining and music.
Lubao Bamboo Hub and Eco Village
Located in Barangay Santa Catalina in Lubao town, the park all started as a long-term response to protect the barangay from soil erosion by planting bamboo along the village's riverbanks. But this propagation of more bamboo species for practical use turned out to be a viable tourism potential for the town because, six years after the first bamboo saplings were planted; the six-hectare property along the riverbank has turned into an eco-tourism destination.
The Bamboo Hub and Eco Village, unlike other natural eco-parks in the region, is man-made.
The property is managed by the Lubao Municipal Government and has become a favorite tourism destination attracting families and health buffs that avail of amenities like covered pathways, bike lanes, and even its own fish spa.
But most visitors are attracted by the prospects of leisurely strolls under the forest-like canopy from the hundreds of bamboo clumps that line the eco-park.
The eco-park attracts an average of 600 people on weekends. Such is the potential of the eco-park for tourism that it had registered a total of 37,000 visitors in 2017 alone.
Some 325 fully-grown clumps of bamboo were planted inside the six-hectare ecological park and thousands more will be planted inside a 30-hectare village that the municipal government is developing.
The area was not initially conceived for eco-tourism. The bamboos were planted by the then provincial bamboo council and the municipality in coordination with the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Pamcham), which was also pushing for bamboo propagation and the use of engineered bamboo as an alternative to commercial lumber.
Ernesto Lopez, 57, of Barangay San Roque 2nd, said that he and his family visit the park regularly instead of going to the malls. He added that the park provides a fun and safe way of relaxing while his children can roam around and play within the safe confines of the park during this pandemic.
"You go to the malls and you spend a lot of money. Here you spend only a little and you can relax and exercise. The children love it here and its spacious enough you don't need to worry about infection from the virus," Lopez said.
The Municipal Government of Lubao also uses the park as a launching pad for its environmental programs. Just this August, some 400 fruit-bearing trees were planted in and around the eco-park. Hundreds of volunteers planted santol, guyabano, lemon, coconut and rambutan during the event that aimed to promote environmental awareness.
New eco-park
The Municipality of Guagua has seen the potential of eco-parks that it is now also in the process of developing its own eco-park. But instead of capitalizing on only attracting health buffs, the town is also focusing on pilgrimage tourism.
Mayor Dante Torres is set to position this town's one-kilometer dike area as the next pilgrimage destination in Pampanga. In fact, the town had finished the life-size murals of the traditional Stations of Cross depicting the passion and death of Jesus Christ in the area located near the old Paglabuan River.
The area is the former site of the once strong Paglabuan River that was shrunk into a meager creek after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. The lahar flows that silted the area had covered the once vast area of the river. It is in this area where the Guagua section of the Megadike was constructed.
Torres is capitalizing on the area that is already a frequent destination for bikers from all over Pampanga after certain sections of dike roads have been paved by the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Several tree planting events have also been held in the area in the first quarter of this year. The municipal government also plans to plant more trees in the area.
"We hope to create an area that would identify Guagua as an eco-tourism destination," Torres said.
And with another eco-park in the works, people here are expected to become more aware of the importance of environmental protection and a healthy lifestyle.