Pinatubo victims in Tarlac find work as tourist guides

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga -- Hundreds of villagers, who fled in terror from an erupting Mt. Pinatubo in 1991, are now returning to the now serene volcano to earn from P2,000 to P3,000 a month as tourist guides.

Residents of Barangay Sta. Juliana in Capas, Tarlac are particularly happy because tourists flock to their place for adventure treks to the Mt. Pinatubo summit. They have organized a barangay tourism council that now earns an average of P8,000 per week from conservation fees, Pinatubo postcard sales and "donations" for the use of toilets they have installed there.

Ronaldo Tiotuico, regional director of the Department of Tourism (DOT), said a multisectoral group launched the tourism project in Capas, dubbed Kabuhayan sa Turismo, last November for the benefit of some 3,000 barangay folk who have rebuilt their homes in the village which was severely hit by lahar and ashfall during the Pinatubo eruption in 1991.

Now, the families are eyeing butterfly farming as additional source of income, with the support of the Holy Angel University, headed by university president Bernadette Nepomuceno, which will soon launch its training program on butterfly farming in Sta. Juliana.

Tiotuico said experts from the University of the Philippines Los Baños have also committed to support the project which is expected to convert Sta. Juliana into a "butterfly paradise."

"Some of the butterflies will be preserved and framed and sold to tourists," Tiotuico said.

Tarlac Rep. Jesli Lapus has sourced out a P1-million fund for the construction of rest areas and more toilet facilities in Capas for tourists whose numbers are expected to grow in the coming years.

Lapus has filed House Bill No. 2255 seeking to declare some areas in Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales as "protected landscapes to safeguard the ecological integrity and habitat of the indigenous communities while at the same time, maintaining the educational and recreational value of the surrounding areas for tourism."

The Sta. Juliana tourism council has already built more toilets and bathrooms and a multipurpose center with a mural of Mt. Pinatubo.

Pampanga civic leader Renato Romero has also donated a powerful water pump to the Sta. Juliana health center.

Barangay tourism officials also plan to install street lights and build a resthouse near the Pinatubo crater.