Mangrove Clean Up Drive at Our Paradise Resort

On October 23, 2012; our group LOGSAC has spearheaded an extreme clean up drive at Our Paradise Resort in sitio Talao, Barangay Tuban, Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur. It was scheduled through the verbal request of the resort management and was directed by Sta. Cruz mayor Joel Ray Lopez through a Memorandum Order.

Our Paradise Resort is known for its vast mangrove reserve area but since it is situated in an area flapped with a long brackish water outlet connecting Tuban and Barangay Zone 4, trashes are flowing at the resort compound. There are even cellophanes knotted within the roots of the mangroves, as well as some other debris creating eyesore to resort visitors.

In an effort to free the mangroves of these trashes, the new management of the resort has tapped the services of mountaineering groups in Sta. Cruz. Along with LOGSAC in unloading those trashes are Team Palaka of Coronon headed by Evan Bandoquillo and the ever supportive Calumpang Mountaineering Club (CAMOC) led by Kimber Clark Acson.

Half of the mini dump truck non-biodegradable and residual wastes were generated during that half-day clean up drive which was then collected by the Solid Waste Management personnel of Sta. Cruz.

Thank you to my club-mates who joined the clean up namely: Trecelyn, Faridah, Catherine, Butchie, Hardi Joy, Glenn Mark, Kirvy, Eboy, Jonas, Jercpas, Hector John, Mulong. Special thanks also to the Ecological Solid Waste Management Committee of Sta. Cruz Engr. Jessie Joy Berallo and his crew. 

Jonas joins DavSur planners to Visayas trip

Chartered member and LOGSAC vice president Jonas Florencondia has participated an organized trip to Cebu City and the province of Bohol on October 3-6, 2012 to personally witness two of Visayas’ most-visited places.

 

By virtue of a drawing of lots in their office, Jonas was fortunate to have drawn as Sta. Cruz’s representative to the trip which was composed mainly of Planning Officers and Coordinators in the entire province of Davao del Sur. 

LOGSAC undergoes Naturalist Guiding Training

Several members of the Local Government of Sta. Cruz Adventure Club have undergone a special training on Naturalist Guiding as jointly conducted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Tourism (DOT) and the LGU of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur.

The training was conducted at Tibolo Cultural Village, Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur on October 10-16, 2012. According to DOT Regional Director Art Boncato, the training will be part of capacitating the human resource component of ecotourism in the region. He further said that with the continuous effort of the DOT to promote tourism development in the region, there is a need to produce DOT-accredited naturalist guides who will be assisting the agency in terms of steering outdoor-related tours like mountain trekking, kayaking, cultural tours, bird watching, among others.

The one-week intensive training had numerous important components which had also eventually formed part of the accreditation process being set by the central office of DOT’s Standard and Accreditation Division. In order to be an accredited naturalist guide, one has to pass the following factors: practical exam, actual basic mountaineering course, written exam and attendance.

Aside from the participants coming from Sta. Cruz, the training was also participated by tour guides coming from provinces of Davao del Norte, Compostela Valley, Davao Oriental and Davao City including participants from Mountaineering Federation of Southern Mindanao (MFSM). The bigger bulk, however, of the participants were from Sta. Cruz basically because of its present program on Mt. Apo trekking.

According to training facilitator Roderick Gonzales, the training was only the sixth in the Philippines. Other regions already receiving the same training includes Banaue, Bicol, Lake Sebu to new a few. The result of accreditation will be revealed in the next months to come.

  

LOGSAC members who joined the training aside from this blogger were: Jonas Florencondia, Noel Bartolome, Julius Biala, Michael Gapula, Hardy Joy Desuyo, Jose Sabandal, Glenn Mark Bauya, Kirvy Palanca, Arjay Semilla, Kimber Clark Acson, Chester Mitz Manuel, Darwin Juntilla and Nikko Rosillo.