Bizmen show how S. Leyte economy rises

TACLOBAN CITY ,Philippines  – Engineer Robert Castañares, president of the Southern Leyte Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SLCCI), impressed other business groups with the roadmap his group had conceptualized to jumpstart the economy of his province.

The presentation was done during the 1st Eastern Visayas Chamber of Commerce and Industry Conference being held here at the Leyte Park Hotel from August 25 to 26, which was participated by members of nine business chambers in Region 8.

Southern Leyte is now the number two tourist destination in Eastern Visayas, and Castañares said the SLCCI, which is only eight months old, has put up programs to transform the province into the "playground" of the region, with the help of the provincial government and other LGUs.

The SLCCI’s first program was to launch the Agas-agas Zipline, which is now getting an average of 100 visitors a day, and to as high as 500 on weekends. A single ride at the zipline is priced at P250.

Castañares said the zipline is one of the five hubs the SLCCI would be developing. The others are: 1) Maasin City, which is the provincial center; 2) Silago for a nature adventure where the ZooLeyte and a "walk" over the canopy of trees will be designed; 3) Napantao Marine Park, which has been rated as one of the top five diving destinations in Southeast Asia; and 4) Limasawa for a historical tour, which will have a restaurant on the "arms" of a 100-meter cross to be erected.

Castañares, who owns the successful Kuting Reef Resort in Southern Leyte, told businessmen that the government will put up all the infrastructures. In Agas-agas, the P14-million pavilion was funded by the provincial government while the resto/coffeeshop is operated by a private investor.

In the nature adventure at Silago, all that is required of businessmen would be the animals. In Limasawa, the cross would be constructed by the provincial government and the only problem at this time would be the funds, which is estimated at P80 million.

The SLCCI president emphasized that they are not even targeting foreign tourists for these destinations but people from Eastern Visayas. There are four million people here and the businessmen projected at least 200,000 visitors in one year if the tourism loop is already in place, he said.

Castañares said these projects would infuse P400 million to the Southern Leyte economy presuming each visitor just spends P2,000 each in one day. Stretch the experience for another day, then that would be P600 million, he said.

Meanwhile, it was also learned from the Department of Trade and Industry-8 director Cynthia Nierras that Southern Leyte's successful launch of its tourism program has made other successful tourism hubs to sit up and take notice of it.

Bohol has even volunteered to guide Southern Leyte this early to develop tourism in this province.