It’s 431 days to the local elections scheduled on May 12, 2010.
The top-rated Dumaguete Adventure Marathon is living up to its objective to promote the “City of Gentle People” and Negros Oriental as a tourism destination. And this provokes the question: “What has our local government officials done or are doing to promote tourism in response to the provisions of the National Tourism Act of 2009 or Republic Act 9593, signed by former President Arroyo during the ‘One Visayas Summit on Climate Change’ on May 13, 2009, and declaring it a national policy for tourism to be one of the country’s engines of investment and employment, and of growth and national development?’”
In the same forum, the former President also noted that the “Visayas region is the country’s tourism center.”
To ensure that the DAM will have a real international flavor and committed foreign participants, we have communicated with the Philippine secretariat of the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) based in Davao City to partner with Foundation University in the staging of the event.
Letters have been sent to EAGA Executive Director Dr. Janet Lopoz, and Secretary Lualhati Antonino, chairperson of the Mindanao Development Authority to which the BIMP-EAGA is an attached agency.
“BIMP-EAGA was launched in 1994 as a Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippine cooperation initiative, all of which are member-countries of the regional Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The objective behind its creation is to accelerate economic development in the four countries’ “focus areas” which, although geographically distant from their national capitals, are in strategic proximity to each other, in one of the world’s most resource-rich regions. The BIMP-EAGA initiative is market-driven, and operates through a decentralized organization structure involving the four governments and the private sector.
BIMP-EAGA cooperation aims to increase trade, tourism and investments with and outside the sub-region by: 1) facilitating the free movement of people, goods, and services; 2) making the best use of common infrastructure and natural resources; 3) taking the fullest advantage of economic complementation.
“BIMP-EAGA covers a land area of 1.6 million square kilometers and has a combined population of 57.5 million. It comprises the entire sultanate of Brunei Darussalam; the provinces of Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, West Papua, and Papua in Indonesia; the states of Sabah and Sarawak, the federal territory of Labuan in Malaysia; the island of Mindanao and the province of Palawan in the Philippines.
“The subregion has exceptional natural resources, encompassing two of the world’s largest rainforests (in Borneo and Papua), and biodiverse marine systems in the South China Sea, Celebes Sea and Sulu Sea. BIMP-EAGA has a long history of participation in the global economy, stretching back to the silk route and spice trade between Europe, China, and other parts of Asia. EAGA supplies the export markets of ASEAN, North and South Asia, and the Middle East, following the expansion of its air, shipping and land transport links and the development of investment incentives.”
As DAM organizer, FU has informed the Philippine secretariat in Davao that the marathon aims to promote a culture of rice conservation under its “Rice is Life” program in partnership with the Asia Rice Foundation, Philippine Rice Research Institute, and the Department of Agriculture.
Thus, the guidelines for participating countries include: a) runners must be rice farmers or their sons and daughters; b) entitlements to discounted airfare, free accommodations, meals and snacks for four days in the 21km half and 42km full marathons, a coach, and a head of the team; and c) possible lay-over arrangements in Cebu City, courtesy of Cebu’s tourism body.
Dr. Lopoz informed me she “Just got the initial feedback from the tech division handling the EAGA. They find it interesting. The discussion yesterday was how to connect it with other EAGA activities so that it becomes part of the EAGA loop such as the EAGA ride for peace, marathon, jamboree and other EAGA sports tourism events and youth development.”
We eagerly anticipate this partnership between the DAM and EAGA for two reasons: firstly, the international projection of Negros Oriental and Dumaguerte City as wholesome tourism destinations, and secondly, expanding and sharing with other countries FU’s institutional corporate social responsibility aimed at creating a culture of rice conservation as a strategy to meet one of the MDG — the eradication of hunger and poverty.
