Infra to develop Bongao eco-tourism starts

BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi - The much awaited infrastructure project in Bongao has been started with the recent groundbreaking ceremony held to develop the access road going up to the Bongao Peak Eco-Tourism Park.” The park will be the 1st Eco-Tourism Park in the region to be developed by Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in consonance with its leadership sense of preservation and conservation, and eventually be a legacy that they can be proud of in the future. Tawi-Tawi District Engineer Bensuod Ajihil said that the infrastructure should be geared towards its preservation/conservation because of the historical significance of the area. The access road project is part of the P54.320 million over-all allocation for the development of Bongao Eco-Tourism Park. Engr. Don Mustapha Loong, ARMM public works secretary, explainedwhy the project must be started too soon. Loong said that they made sure that the project will be implemented before the election period starts. This will be realized soon as it is a priority project of the regional government under Gov. Mujiv Hataman, he said. Various positive reactions were posted in social media networks when the news broke out about the development of Bud Bongao earlier last month. Erwin Lim, a Tawi-Tawian now based in Los Angeles, California posted on his Facebook account Congrats Bro. Ben (Ajihil) and the local gov't -- a great task to be taken -- I for one have great confident that this will be a success, we are aware that development and preservation/conservation are not always inthe same side but rather opposite side but with careful planning and design --- with conservation taken as priority and development as work around it. Filimon G. Romero, who works at the Foundation for the Philippine Environment, posted I hope that this infrastructure project would be in harmony with the status of Bud Bongao as a locally managed conservation area.” Arcilla Sevilla also posted Wow! Start kaagad, ganyan kabilis magwork ang mga taga DPWH at LGU dito sa Bongao. With that, I salute and congratulate SirBensoud A Ajihil, the District Engineer of DPWH, Province of Tawi-Tawi and our very own Local Chief Executive of Bongao Municipality, Hon.Jasper Que, Al-haj. Keep it up! For making our municipality a world class Eco-Tourism site. Mabuhay po kayo! Social media networks are the only means of communication being used by netizens in Tawi-Tawi since it is known to be the farthest island part of the country, and is not accessible to newspapers from the region and from the capital. For the first time on October 3, 2015, President Benigno Aquino III visited the farthest province down south, Tawi-Tawi. He's was in town for the inspection of the three Sanga-Sanga - Lapid-Lapid Bridges and to report to his bosses the accomplishments of his administration in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). One of the highlights of PNoy's visit was the presentation of the Development Master plan for the province's main airport with the proposed budget of PhP824 million,converting Sanga-Sanga airport into Tawi-Tawi International Airport.