KIAMBA, Sarangani (May 14, 2008) – Woodbridge Beach Resort in Kiamba will host the 10am. opening program of Sarangani Bay Festival on May 16 with simultaneous competitions in land and sea.
Earlier in the day, at 7am., a clean-up in the province's six coastal towns - Alabel, Malapatan, Glan, Maasim, Kiamba and Maitum - will usher in community participation and advocacy for Sarangani Bay.
Also slated at Woodbridge are a rowing race (lumba bugsay), cooking contest (hain kusina), an environmental arts exhibit and a techno-aqua recreational activity.
For the first time, the municipality of Kiamba will launch the "Mountain-River-Ocean Adventure," a human race from the jungles to the sea.
Local government units, non-government organizations and the business sector are coming in together to celebrate this year's bay festival and to increase community awareness in environmental conservation.
"For our third Sarangani Bay Festival, everybody is knocking on our doors," Governor Migs Dominguez told a press conference last week.
"This means we're developing equity and credibility in what we are doing, because our cause is healthy," the governor said.
Sarangani Bay Festival, with the theme this year of "Sarangani… Celebrating and Protecting the Treasures of the Bay", is a province-wide festival which pays tribute to the bounty of the bay through beach events.
"We are celebrating the beauty and the goodness of the bay," said Vice Governor Steve Chiongbian Solon.
"Every year people will be reminded of how beautiful and how generous the bay has become for us that we should continue to preserve it," Solon said.
According to Board Member Arturo Lawa, Sarangani province has "already generated interest with regards to environmental protection."
"This is evident in the building of Septage Treatment Facilities from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation among the province's six coastal towns," said Lawa, chair of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan environment committee.
Lawa said in relation to the Clean Water Act, his committee was now 80% in the formulation of the Water Quality Management Board for Sarangani Bay.
On the other hand, the annual bay festival has triggered the development of beach resorts across the province to accommodate tourists.
Resort growth more than doubled in the white sand shores of Gumasa, the Boracay-like destination in Mindanao.
The tourism office has recorded an 87% increase of tourist arrivals in the province from 2005 to 2007. (SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE/RGP)
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