Mountain
trail and summit. Coastal and island attractions. Waterfalls. Diving sites.
Historic shrines. Good foods. These are things that made me envy of the place
in Davao Oriental, the carefree town of Governor Generoso (GovGen). It might
have been marketed lesser the way other adjacent towns were introduced in the
travel and tourism industry but boy, this municipality can really be a mammoth
material not far from now. Despite its silence a lot of people have not left
this place unnoticed because despite being situated in the south-eastern tip of
the Philippine map GovGen deserves not just one or two but multiple visits.
I
personally commend the Visit Davao Summer Festival (VDSF) for including
GovGen into its pool of events and for
considering it as the official venue of Sawom Dabaw, a Scuba Diving Festival
culminated last June 14-15. Sawom Dabaw is a distinctive event recently
included by VDSF in its menu to boosts the rich marine biodiversity in the
entire region. It is strongly supported by the Department of Tourism,
Philippine Commission on Sports Scuba Diving (PCCSD), Provincial Government of
Davao Oriental and Municipal Government of Governor Generoso. Several sponsors
from the private sector also backed the event. The two-day dive fest saw
several open water, certified and advanced diving enthusiasts, as well as intro
divers convened in GovGen to witness altogether in what could be one of the
region’s most beautiful dive sites. Below are photos given by Master Diver and Underwater Photographer East Pardillo of two marine species available in Governor Generoso, the Hoippocampus denise and Melibe colemani.
I
was fortunate enough to have been invited by the VDFS to join the intro dive
with Meggy from San Miguel Brewery, who is also a co-presentor of VDSF this
year. It was my second time in GovGen and I have noticed several changes in
terms of operating some attractions here when the local government took the
management which was previously held by a private entity. This is a proof that
the LGU now is capacitated to operate and manage tourism sites as a viable
economic industry in Davao Oriental.
To
seize spare time we drove to Cape San Agustin by 1:00 in the afternoon on June
14 to take an advance visit to a historic Light Houses in Pundaguitan. It was a
quick 15-minute drive from Babak Resort (dive venue). As usual, Cape San
Agustin is impressive as it merges history with sparkle of beautiful seascape
of three major bodies of ocean namely: Pacific Ocean, Celebes Sea and Davao
Gulf. Standing by one of its light houses is an esteem to consider being one of
the few persons at halt in the country’s south-eastern dead end.
After
a short dive we were billeted in El Don Resort, definitely a cosy accommodation
in this part of the region with a touch of Mediterranean theme perfect as icing
in a tropical setting of Davao Oriental. El Don is the newest offering in the
region and its early development further dragged GovGen into the national
tourism chart. As a naturalist I don’t usually care about 5-star accommodation
whenever I travel. But I was really amazed with what El Don has to offer. The
rooms are spacious and built in front of the huge Davao Gulf. The landscape
here is synonymous to paradise. Every structure is positioned such that no
matter how exhausted you are in a day you will always find solace when you get
here. Coconut trees are dominant scene almost the entire resort with mangroves
and the green mountain ranges pedicure the eastern side. It is a total luxury
to be here despite having difficulty with phone signal. Well, that could be an
added reason why you should be here, to propagate peace of mind.
Governor
Generoso might have initially savour its present craze on tourism but when we
drove back home I realized that tranquillity is still the selling point of this
town. The long road here is an intermediary of the mountain and sea, even
serving as temporary abode of domesticated animals like goats and dogs. In fact
I noticed Meggy as having a whole new perspective of driving here.
My humble take about
Governor Generoso is to maintain what it has right now. With nature as major
resource of its tourism, regulation should be the name of the game. Local
authorities should be sensitive to its environment while it is still there.
Regulation in everything: arrivals, carrying capacity, tourism investments and
the likes. After all, when destruction starts to wreck havoc to the environment
there is definitely no turning back.
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