One day the Fermin the tuki, Bora the sand and Surigao the red mountain were drinking. They were talking about their lives and I heard the conversation in my dream.
Bora: Hi Fermin! “Anung balita?” (What’s up?). What the heck happened to your face? Ohhh, is that your gills dude?
Fermin: *crying* Hey Bora, if I say I’m good would you believe me? I can’t see myself on the mirror but my face f*cking hurts. Ohhh.. and I’m hungry too. Got any food Surigao?
Surigao: Sorry Fermin, I don’t. Btw, Bora a lot has changed since we first met. You are “conyotic” and lovely before but now look at you. So kadiri, what’s that slimy green on you. New fashion trend Bora?
Bora: Oh, these… I don’t know. Some locals say that I need this to make sure that my sands stay white. But yes you are correct, I feel dirty. I don’t think people care about me now.
Fermin: I feel you Bora. *cries again*
Surigao: Hey hey hey Fermin. So what really happened on your face?
Fermin: I told you I was hungry so I went near the boats. I was caught with the propellers because I thought it was food.
Bora: WTF Fermin. I thought you should be somewhere else in the Pacific with the rest of your whaleshark friends. What are you doing in Cebu?
Fermin: Yep, you are right. Why would I leave Oslob? I’m a star there. People take photos of me, they thought I’m a hollywood celebrity, they give me food and some of them tap me on my back. Why go to the wild if I enjoy the benefits here?
Surigao: Goodness! You are out of your mind Fermin! Now look at you.
Bora: C’mon Surigao! Don’t be hard on Fermin. It’s not his fault. Those crazy tourists! I thought the Oslob and the Province of Cebu meant good, but I guess they were wrong. They should have listened to the recommendations of the experts.
Fermin: “Like!” Look who’s talking Surigao? Have you seen your head lately? “Shaggy” is soooo 90’s.
Surigao: *checks his hair* What?
Bora: *laughs*
Surigao: Stop laughing Bora! It ain’t funny girl.
Bora: You cut your hair and you don’t know about it?
Surigao: No, I didn’t. And please stop giggling. You don’t have a right, look at you, you are dirty. Are you raped?
Bora: I guess so… At least drugs feel good. Sings Afroman’s “Because I get high.” Raped? Molested? At least I’m the number 1 beach in the world. Let’s party party!
Surigao: I feel sorry for you Bora.
Bora: NUMBER 1, NUMBER 1, NUMBER 1 baby. Party pa, cheers!
Fermin: Wait, I have to go. I just have to entertain these boats. See yah later guys. *bangs himself on the boat*
Bora: Surigao, don’t feel sorry for me. There is this thing called “rehab.”
Surigao: Whatever you say.
Bora: Surigao, my friend. Let’s not deny the fact that you also face a problem. Look at you- you lost all your hairs and all I can see is rust. Green became brownish red. What more, you are damaging my marine creature friends below. Before I saw some tarsiers on your mountains. Now, I see truckloads of dirt, trees being cut everywhere.
Surigao: *breaths heavily*
Bora: *holds Surigao’s hand* I feel you brotha. Tagay pa!
Surigao: LGU did this. I thought they meant it for good, for development… I wish my friend, DENR, would do something.
Bora: Amen. Let’s hope for the better. *Falls on her seat because of too much alcohol.*
Surigao: Take care always.
— the end —
Fermin is a “tuki” or whaleshark from Oslob, Cebu.
Bora is a part of Station 1 beach in Boracay.
Surigao is one of the red mountains in Surigao.
In the dream, the conversation was done on a low-tone voice.
Things I will do:
1. Boycott Boracay until they take action on rehabilitation of the island. I will not go to Boracay until they do something about this perennial problem.
2. Boycott Whaleshark Watching/Interaction in Oslob until they find a proper way to do this. I’m really against feeding these wild creatures.
3. Campaign for sustainable tourism in Surigao and actively support ‘no to mining campaigns in Surigao.’
HOW ABOUT YOU?
Note: All photos are not mine, taken from www.google.com
i feel you
Sad 🙁
Boycotting is not enough- this post does more to make people aware. Authorities need to be bombarded with letters and petitions from travel bloggers, especially with the garbage problem in Boracay. For Oslob, I think they’re starting to wise up to the problem already but we need to keep pestering them. As for the development in Surigao, if it is responsible development, we cannot fault them for it. That’s like saying you are boycotting Manila because of all the development that has taken place here.
Here we are trying to draw tourists to our country yet efforts seem to be so myopic. No long term vision. Whatever happened to the concept of sustainable development? Nakakainis.
Nakarelate po ako dito Bosing. My first time in Boracay just this last month nung umuwi ako, nagulat ako kasi di ko maintindihan kung bakit sya number 1 beach. Ayoko nga maligo sa dagat eh napilit ko lang sarili ko at si ermat dahil ang mahal ng airfare na binayaran ko. tapos prang ayaw pa ng ermat ko lumabas ng resort so we stayed one whole day inside our room watching all the programs.(aircon kasi hehehe) vacation nga tlga hahaha. pero ang bait ng mga tao kasi nga eh nawala kami ng ermat ko tapos me tumulong samen tapos nilibre pa kami sa trike. goodness! nahiya naman ako. tapos nakalibre pa ko ng singkwenta pesos dahil di na ko pinabayad ni manong na naniningil sa mga trike noong pauwi na. ang bait nila!!! 🙂
siguro kung nabawasan ang ganda sa Bora dahil sa mga basura sulit naman siguro kasi ang babait ng mga tao. ^_^
opinyun lng po 🙂
been to Oslob and Surigao- nakakalungkot:( NO TO MINING IN ANY PART OF THE COUNTRY and lets promote responsible tourism!
need more action in Surigao …. pera pera n lng talaga cila…hayyyy,,
I can really feel the problem in Surigao now,both Surigao del Sur and Norte. Everything was damaged by the mining in both province. Hope there will be really a big action for that problem.
just passed by that road and it was sooo damn depressing
Kakalungkot nman… I will be visiting Bora in Nov and Surigao in March.. sana Maiba nman ang makita ko..
Before, I love the concept of feeding the fishes under the sea but now I finally understood na ‘di pla tlaga xia maganda.. In the sense na ung few moments na natuwa ka because the fishes were all over you ang kapalit destruction ng Coral Reefs na thousands of years nabuo.. So depressing talaga when I saw the effect in Coron.. =(
its nice to know that your eyes were opened.
Been to Surigao! Tinuy’an falls, Enchanted river, Britania group of islands..Awesome! Pero you see everywhere illegal logging,(kalbong kbundukan). Tsk2!
maganda ang surigao maliban lang sa red mountain. try nyo pumunta sa sohoton, siargao, at gen luna. sana ihinto na nila ang mining sa surigao. grabe ang tubig na umaagos galing sa bundok puro kalawang…
sa boracay naman 2007 pa ko nagpunta di na nga ganun kalinaw ang tubig…
sa oslob di pa ko nakapunta kahit at least 3x ako nagpupunta ng cebu.
i love sohoton and siargao.
in Boracay, tourists have to pay Php 100.00 terminal fee. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind paying if it really goes to where its supposed to be. but strolling on the island, and seeing all those garbage and mess, gusto kong balikan yung naniningil ng Terminal Fee at tanungin kung nasaan napunta ang Terminal Fee ko..
Php100 na pala? last time i was there 50 lang, and i really mind paying it.
is that the terminal fee or the environmental fee kuno?
Nakalbo ang bundok dahil sa mining, sana maregulate yan ng gobyerno sa lalong madaling panahon… Sayang ang likas yaman natin. And I feel sorry for Fermin. Sana lahat ng tao sa probinsya ay maging aware din sa epekto ng mga ginagawa nila sa kalikasan.