CLARK FREEPORT – A P200-million eco-tourism plan has been drawn by the local government as part of a two-pronged strategy to turn Arayat, Pampanga into a premiere tourism hub by 2016.
This was announced by Mayor Emmanuel “Bon” Alejandrino, during the “Balitaan” forum at the Bale Balita here last Friday organized by the Capampangan in Media, Inc. (CAMI) in cooperation with the Clark Development Corp. and the Social Security System.
The first-term mayor said one of the programs envisions the speedy development of the 14-hectare resort area of Central Luzon’s only mountain. He said this could prepare Arayat achieve its goal of employing tourism activities as an essential instrument for its progress and sustained growth.
Alejandrino, a former Huk supremo, said Arayat had an “image problem” concerning peace and order before, but has now been declared by the Regional Development Council as one of the most peaceful towns in Central Luzon.
The comprehensive 10-year eco-tourism program has a price tag of P200 million which will be executed under the national government’s private- public partnership (PPP) program template designed to lure private capital in projects that could spur economic progress in the country’s urban and rural communities.
This program will be supported by a comprehensive land use plan that will guide the town’s quest for socio economic progress, Alejandrino said. Both plans have been finalized and scheduled for formal unveiling in August, he said, stressing that phase-I of the tourism program has actually been implemented to jump-start the reforestation of the denuded sections of the mountain and the upgrading of the facilities at the San Juan Baño Park at the foot of Mt. Arayat which was declared by then President Manuel L. Quezon under the Commonwealth Act as a National Park.
Virgin forest
Alejandrino said Mt. Arayat comprises about 3,400 hectares but only about 10 hectares are considered virgin forests until now. He said the rest has been denuded because of rampant illegal logging and the traditional “kaingin” or slash-andburn method of upland farmers to clear the land.
With the forest denudation also went the wild animals which once roamed the mountain. Only a handful of wildlife like monkeys, wild boars and some birds remain, he added. Sadly, only three forest rangers from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) are guarding Mt. Arayat, the mayor lamented.
However, Alejandrino said illegal logging has now abated but sporadic reports of the illegal activity still crop up every now and then. Meanwhile, Alejandrino said, for the first time in years the San Juan Baño resort has begun to generate revenues for the local government.
He said in a period of three months from March to May this year alone, the revenues from the gate receipts of the resort have already amounted to nearly P1 million that allowed the municipality to pay entirely the P300,000 annual rent to the DENR.
Last frontier
He said the eco-tourism program will be primarily geared towards protecting and rehabilitating Mt. Arayat to help mitigate the adverse impact of climate change not only on Arayat town and Pampanga but the entire Central Luzon.
The reforestation phase of the program will be buttressed by the town’s plan to encourage direct involvement of private groups in planting and growing forest and fruit trees in partnership with the town’s communities and informal upland farmers.
To attain this objective, the mayor said, the LGU intends to mount a campaign for wider community support. “This means that our cries will not only be confined to within our borders to help us promote the protection of Mt. Arayat but also beyond by selling Arayat as ‘The Last Frontier’ in Central Luzon,” he added.
Alejandrino said his administration also hopes to execute plans and programs that will closely abide by the declaration of Mt. Arayat as a national park.
To achieve this objective, he said his office has started to network with the three areas around the mountain (the towns of Magalang and Mexico and Angeles City) for a closer coordination in the execution of work plans designed to clean and clear waterways to avert flash floods in some barangays around the mountain and even mount support for reforestation programs of the other towns, as well as help beef up security in and around the mountain.
More than 60 percent of the total area of Mt. Arayat falls within the territory of Arayat town while 40 percent is in the town of Magalang. Angeles City and Mexico are situated at the foot of the mountain.
Tough stance
In the case of Arayat, the mayor said that in his first 100 days in office, he managed to improve the town’s peace-and-order situation by taking a tough stance against bandits, drug pushers and other criminally-bent individuals, including illegal loggers and slash-and-burn farmers in the mountain – a development that allowed his office to work on the programs designed to uplift Arayat’s socio-economic condition.
At present, the town’s population stands at 128,000 spread out in 30 barangays. The municipality generates an annual income of P174 million, of which P154 million is accounted for by its internal revenue allotment (IRA).
The bulk of local tax collection is from commercial establishments, the majority of which depends on the revenues from tourism-oriented activities around Mt. Arayat.
