By Roel Amazona/PNA
CATARMAN, Northern Samar — Tourism stakeholders here are upbeat about bringing more guests in this capital town with the promotion of the pedicab tour.
Kathrina Marigold Jusa, owner of Gusto Aventura travel agency based here, said in an interview Wednesday that they want tourists to get a taste of local living by riding a pedicab and see the residents’ way of life.
Under this concept, tourists will ride pedicab around the town’s center for sightseeing and immersion with the community.
Other activities include watching athletes play “sepak takraw”, the country’s national game, which is commonly played in this town.
Tourists will also have a chance to observe how locals produce their special delicacies like “pinangat” (a dish which combines taro leaves, chili, meat or fish and coconut milk) and “piñato” (a delicacy made of pop rice, caramelized sugar, and rice cracker)
They will also be ferried to Buko Island where they can witness how men make one of their premium products — copra. A farm tour also highlights the experience, wherein guests can ride a carabao and experience the local’s way of life in the vast rice fields.
Part of the tour is a boodle fight at Rancho Gloria, which is owned by the family of famous celebrity costume player, Alodia Gosiengfiao, and stay in cozy yet affordable hotels.
The rate in Sangkay Suites is only PHP2,500 to PHP3,500 every night for a two-storey condominium type rooms with kitchen. Another choice is Carmel Inn, where room rates range from PHP650 to PHP2,200 per night.
“I’ve been traveling the Philippines since I graduated college and I saw the potential of Catarman when my boyfriend’s parents brought me here. Catarman is untouched and has lot of potentials for tourism especially by riding a pedicab,” said Jusa who launched this concept early this month.
High school scholars of the Center for Arts, Recreation and Education (CARE) Foundation put designs on the pedicab using indigenous raw materials.
If the pedicab tour will succeed, about 1,000 drivers stand to benefit from the project by providing alternative income through tourism.
Pedicab driver Romulo Barandino Jr. thanked the people behind the project as it boosted their morale, adding that it provided them an opportunity to learn about dealing with tourists. He earns PHPP300 from whole-day driving of non-motorized pedicab. Through this tour, he would earn the same amount in just a few hours.
Northern Samar provincial tourism officer Maria Josette Doctor welcomed the concept as a boost to local tourism industry, fulfilling their dream of having a local tour operator offering tourism activities at the capital town.
“It’s really the pedicab that brings you around especially in Catarman where roads are narrow. This is a brilliant idea to use them in tour instead of using cars, but it only needs to beautify the pedicab and to further train the drivers so that they can be able to give a good service to tourists,” Doctor added.
Aside from touring around the town of Catarman, the pedicab tour will also connect with a tour to the famous Biri Island and with the Mamanwa tribe in Las Navas, who are trained and assisted by government agencies in handicraft-making using rattan.
Catarman town can be reached through regular flights from and to Clark. The town is a five-hour drive from Tacloban City through a 238-kilometer highway.
