Mayor Cirilo P. Jalad welcomed participants during the recent workshop which prepared the Five-Year Eco-Cultural Tourism (ECT) Plan for Albur. The plan seeks to develop unique products from traditional livelihood in the seven other barangays not covered by the Community-Managed Tourism Project. The project, which ended June 30, was implemented in three barangays (Ponong, Basacdacu, Sta. Felomena) by the Bohol Local Development Foundation (BLDF) under the Philippines-Australia Community Assistance Program (PACAP). Albur is known for indigenous products such as calamay, brooms and place mats made from the buri palm. Pottery and rock salt making will be given technical assistance in terms of promotion and marketing, as well as product design, starting the first year of the plan. The Municipal LGU will make the Interpretive and Tourism Information Center fully operational during the plan period to ensure full support to all 11 barangays in carrying out their ECT projects as part of overall poverty reduction efforts in the municipality. For its part, BLDF has included Albur among the nine municipalities where it will implement a new microfinance project, according to its president, Dr. Nestor M. Pestelos.

 

Aida Bisaya, municipal planning and development coordinator in Anda, explains to the officers of people’s organizations their responsibility to manage tour destinations in their respective communities during a recent planning workshop. She heads the Municipal Poverty Reduction Action Team (MPRAT) which provides technical assistance and policy support to local initiatives in eco-cultural tourism. Mayor Paulino Amper has directed the MPRAT to visit all the existing and potential ecological and cultural tourism sites and determine needed government support to enable people’s organizations to make them viable social enterprises. The Bohol Local Development Foundation (BLDF) will continue to provide support despite the phase-out of assistance from the Philippines-Australia Community Assistance Program (PACAP) by the end of this month.