Bohol News, Hotels, Travel and Real Estate Property

With a star-studded visitors led by Binay, Bohol will flare up to the beat of sights and sounds as the Sandugo highlight is staged at the CPG Sports Complex as all systems go for the street dancing and parade under the auspices of the Bohol Sandugo Foundation Inc., chaired by Mayor Lim.   Dancing and gyrating to the beat of Sandugo drums, at least eight contingents will display their wares during the parade starting at the city tourist port.  Only four entries will slug it out in the competition of the festival where the first placer is expected to be awarded P200,000. The rest of the participants will present their respective numbers to the expected delight of thousands of spectators. To ensure and orderly presentation, Provincial Director PSSupt Rodolfo A. Llorca assured that security and traffic concerns are being ironed out. The parade which will start at 12;30 PM will traverse thru Gallares St. from the city port then to J. S. Torralba street, Pres. Carlos Garcia Avenue...

"The Office of the Governor and the Capitol will be helping the PCL all the way." This was the assurance that Gov. Edgar M. Chatto gave to the 482 members of the Philippine Councilors League (PCL) during a special meeting held at JJ's Seafoods Village Wednesday.   The governor challenged the PCL that as legislators and policy-makers, they must make sure that come August, implementation of laws must already begin to assure the strengthening of every league of the province for management and provincial growth. The PCL is the foundation and core of the province for the crafting of laws beneficial to the people basically falls upon its shoulders. The governor further assures that the former's work would be made easier for the Provincial Government has created the Bohol Center for Development Studies (BCDS), the research arm of the province, headed by Romy Teruel, to help both the PCL and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) to look into old laws and in drafting new ...

Shots from high-tech digital cameras, or the inevitable cell phone cameras to the ever present film based instamatics can be accepted entries for the July 25 Sandugo street-dancing competition.   According to contest organizers, a camera is only second to the user's idea of a good composition to be able to make up for a winning shot that allows him a night stay in Bohol's leading city resort .  According to photo-contest organizers though veteran photojournalist Nilo Sapong, the Pitik: Tipik sa Dugong Bol-anon Photo Competition uses the kilometric span of street dancing parade route along the city's main thoroughfare as the venue for testing the budding artist's capability to see beyond what the usual parade watcher can. The streetdancing dance parade is a venue to test the amateur artist's skill and pit it against the more familiar mainstream photographers to prove his composition he even can be better, he said. The contest, which is open for professionals and ...

To appraise tourists about the kind of service he would get in an establishment in Bohol , a tourism classification board would possibly help. Governor Edgar Chatto, who took the lead in crafting the country's tourism code shared this during the recent Provincial Tourism Council (PTC) meeting held at Panda Tea Garden in Dao a few weeks ago. Chatto clarified that the Board's task would be to put up a unified classification of accredited tourism service providers and establishment using the star rating system, so tourists would know what to expect when they are there. Building on Bohol tourism's successes, several local government units and private entrepreneurs have funded for establishments and service and splurge on promotional activities without being fully familiar with the industry, PTC members said. Not a few tourists have already shared their dismay about getting into an establishment selling itself through the internet, only to find that its accommodations ar...

At the crossroads of a booming tourism industry and the challenge of preserving our world-class dive sites from continued degradation, concerns have been expressed for the well-being of coral reefs that abound in Balicasag Island and other dive locations in the province. With the steadily growing popularity of Bohol's dive destinations among scuba diving enthusiasts from around the world, our coral reefs are taking so much stress from divers that even dive shop operators fear permanent reef degradation that would eventually destroy everything within our coral reef system in a span of 5 to 10 years. "Here is a clear and present danger that our very own government authorities, tourism industry stakeholders - including dive operators and resort owners - are very much aware of; yet, nothing has been done about it," a local businessman pointed out during an interview. CARELESS TOURISM The urgency of recognizing the fact that coral reefs around Balicasag Island are sufferi...

Politics barely affect the community life tours, says Abatan River Development and Management Council (ARDMC). New leaderships or any wayward development plans along the Abatan river is decided by not just one but a council, and that consultative forum does not threaten the operation of the tours, agree both erstwhile and present council chairs and former Maribojoc Mayor Gavino Redulla and current re-elected Catigbian Mayor Roberto Salinas. Mayor Salinas said even with new leaders elected for Antequera and Balilihan, the new-comers are not new to the program as they have been a part of the widespread participatory planning process, which laid the ground-works for the new eco-tourism product. Former Mayor Gavino Redulla, who used to head the council also said that they were careful that the product development, that is, that the community life tours undergo participatory planning sessions from communities in five towns to make sure everybody knows what they are into. Speaking at the...

Freedom from the threat of rabies is the shout resounded by Anti-Rabies council members, a thing Bohol may be able to achieve this year if the right conditions are met. One more year, says Provincial veterinarian Dr. Stella Marie Lapiz, and if Bohol is pegs a high dog vaccination rate, it is most likely that we can be declared free from the threat of rabies this year and beyond. Achieving the citation however does not come easy, Dr. Lapiz who heads the Bohol Rabies Prevention and Eradication Council (BRPEC) said. Much of the success would come mostly from the Bantay Rabies sa Barangay (BRB) who are overseeing the registration and vaccination of dogs in their areas. And the continued active involvement of the local leaders would play major roles, Dr, Lapiz said. BRB are community-based volunteers composed mostly of barangay officials whose main responsibility is to translate and execute the rabies program at the frontlines according to established implementing guidelines and the pro...