Pinatubo pitch

IT was then Governor Lito Lapid’s foremost wish: that the cause of Pampanga’s damnation would ultimately effect the Capampangan’s redemption. Of course, the Bida ng Masa did not use those exact same words, given his limited usage of the King’s language. To quote from memory, he said then – this was sometime in 1997 – “Sa Pinatubo naghirap ang Pampanga, sa Pinatubo rin ito maisasalba.” How did I know? I was senior consultant to Lapid then.

Lapid had this grandest of visions to transform the Pinatubo area into a major tourist destination. Imagine.

A road zigzagging through the seven mountains of Porac capped by a viewing deck atop the Porac peak. Around the deck are kubol huts serving exotic native delights as binulo, adobong kamamalu, tapang usa, pindang babing-dikut, etcetera and selling native handicrafts and souvenirs. There are huts too for overnight accommodation. Bungee-jumping from the deck itself and lots of rappelling the surrounding ravines.

And that was only first phase of the development.

The second phase was marvelously mind-boggling: cable cars far up the ground on suspension lines crisscrossing the plains from Mount Pinatubo to Mount Arayat!

Lapid’s proverty in education is more than compensated for in the wealth of his imagination. Imagination that pointed him to another direction – yet still within his vision of Pinatubo’s redemptive value – discovering for himself a most prized jewel in the sand.

What the governor easily forgot, Porac Mayor Quiel Gamboa took to heart. He carved a dirt road up to the Porac peak, with a detour to the beautiful Miyamit Falls.

The road made an extreme driving adventure specially the part called galudgud asu, literally taking after the backbone of a mangy mongrel with sheer drops of hundreds of meters on both sides.

We were part of the trekkers who braved the route in the summer of 2005 along with Tatang Quiel, Governor Mark Lapid, Clark Development Corp. President Tony Ng and the different four-wheeler clubs that provided the transport.

With Tatang Quiel and the husband of Yuri Park out of power, I wondered what fate awaited the trail they blazed.

Thus, the news that Cong Tarzan Lazatin filed House Bill 1613 declaring Mount Pinatubo as an official tourist destination in the Philippines made a cause for celebration.

The bill was intended to “boost tourism in all adjacent communities of Mount Pinatubo and create livelihood means for residents” and tasked the Department of Tourism to set a budget for the establishment and maintenance of high-impact tourism areas around the volcano.

The bill at the same time mandated local government units contiguous to Pinatubo to create tourist points.

And my seminary elder Ronnie Tiotuico, tourism director for Central Luzon, could not have been happier: “It’s high time Pinatubo earned that distinction.”

Ronnie has been in the thick of the struggle to transform devastation into profit, proving his point with the successful Sta. Juliana, Capas, Tarlac route to Pinatubo that has taken tens of thousands of local and foreign tourists to the very crater lake of the volcano. We were among those who’ve “been there, done that.” Indeed, a most exhilarating, even spiritual experience.

Apart from the Porac and Sta. Juliana trails, there are other Pinatubo-related attractions being developed. A sure-fire hits especially for the droves of Korean and Japanese tourists would be the hot springs in Sapang Bato, Angeles and in Inararo, Porac.

The enactment of Cong Tarzan’s bill into law will most definitely make Pinatubo a top tourist draw in the country. Needless to say, every citizen of Central Luzon with just a drop of patriotic blood in his vein must support it.

Bet on this sure-win!