DAVAO CITY – To boost its tourism industry, the Compostela Valley province will invest PHP100 million to develop a 65-kilometer road network called the Wellness Loop.
ComVal Tourism officer Christine Dompor disclosed the Wellness Loop Development project will start anytime this year with a completion target in 2019. Site inspections have been done last year.
Dompor said the project covers roads connecting to the different wellness sites and other tourist destinations within the province.
“This is an initiative of the provincial government so tourists and visitors can have easy access to the destinations,” she said.
This year, the provincial government will work on social preparations and the rehabilitation of existing structures.
The project has already been presented to the Regional Development Council last year. The provincial government plans to develop the Amakan Crater, Rafflesia Site, Miyaya Falls, Pyalitan Falls, Tagbibinta Falls, Marangig Falls, Mainit Sulfuric Waterfall Hotspring, Lake Leonard and Salvosa Falls.
Dompor said once the loop becomes operational, the provincial government would limit the entry of people in order to preserve the natural condition of the sites.
She said that overcrowding is harmful to the environment so they want to manage the entry of people. Part of the plan is to field a 50 to 70-seater bus to service the routes while vegan foods – fresh from the farms would be served and softdrinks would be banned, she added. The province would only allow glamping as accommodation.
“We want to be the advocate of wellness and at the same time take good care of our natural resources,” she said.
Among the sites to experience and explore within the loop is the Mainit Hot Spring where a steaming waterfall is stuck on the side of a hill in barangay Mainit – Masara line passing through a strip of dirt road starting from Mawab town.
The road stretches to the barangay where Apex-Crew Mines holds court. There is also the White Peak or Puting Bato, the highest peak of Mt. Pandadagsaan at 2,679 meters above sea level. It is the third highest peak in Davao Region and ranked 13th in the Philippines.
The Bongloy Cave is another site to explore found in barangay Sisimon in the municipality of Laak. It is profiled as a virginal cave as it has remained untouched. Inside its winding chambers are glistening speleothem and rave cave species.
Another interesting site is the Mountain of Fire or the Amakan Crater which nestles on a small cusp of the hill of Amakan in New Leyte in the municipality of Maco which is seven kilometers away from Lake Leonard.
The Chasing Waterfalls or the Malumagpak Falls of New Bataan is 230 meters high that cascades on three ledges to a shallow pool below.
Dompor said every October, mountain climbers from all over Davao region converge in Maragusan for the annual Octo-Trek of Mt. Candalaga which is part of the Mount Tagub-Kampalili Ranges Protected Landscape.
The primary forest found in the mountain are dipterocarp montane and montne mossy forests which also include 14 other endangered or threatened species.
The Rafflesia Mira/Magnifica which is considered as the world’s biggest flower, she said is found on the slopes of barangays New Albay and Mapawa about seven kilometers from the Maragusan town center.
All the sites Dompor said lead to communities of Indigenous Peoples (IP) belonging to the different tribes namely Dibabawon, Mandaya, Manguangan, Manabo, Ata-Manobo, Kagan and Mansaka. (Digna D. Banzon/PNA)
