Saving beach culture
BY ED BIADO

As you’re reading this, I’m in Boracay enjoying the many wonderful things the island has to offer. Going to the beach is a yearly thing for me, especially during summer, and I can safely say that it’s a tradition many other Filipinos.

Beaching is a culture all by itself in Philippine islands as we have a lot of breathtaking beaches. And that’s one of the perks of living in the tropics.
Beach culture is a diverse concept. It crosses social classes and lifestyles. We all have different expectations of what makes a trip to the beach perfect. Some like it isolated and peaceful; others prefer seeing familiar faces in parties as if everybody’s left the city and migrated to the beach.

And we have every destination to cater to both those whims and everything else in between.
Boracay, being the island of choice to every seaside party, has plenty of accommodation options to suit all budgets.

Rates are as low as P500 per night off-peak and as high as P30,000-plus when demand is high. The entire coastline of the island is developed and lined with resorts and boat stations. The main beach, where all the happenings are, is almost just like the city with food stalls, retailers, restaurants and resorts.

In fact, all this development is putting the island at risk of losing all its sand due to erosion and illegal exportation of the sand by tourists. Recently, smoking and building big sand castles have been banned on the areas near the water to help in waste management and to prevent people, especially locals who ask for money when tourists pose by their sand castles to take pictures, from digging up big holes on the beach.

This enactment by the mayor’s office was met with criticism by some tourists who consider the sand castles as an important attraction.

And that’s the problem with a highly commercialized natural destination. As with any other place on Earth, an influx of visitors bring more harm than good. Take Puerto Galera, for example—once named one of the world’s most beautiful bays. It’s often called the poor man’s Boracay with its very economical food and lodging options.

Being near Metro Manila, you don’t need to fly to get there. This equates to a lot of tourists. This also equates to a lot of trash. During Holy Week, there’s almost no room to walk around as the whole white beach area is filled with people. Swimming is also not as enjoyable anymore because of all the boats and the fact that the water can cause itchiness at times.

Those are two of the country’s most famous beaches and there are more:
Siargao, which gets very busy in September because of an annual international surfing competition, is easier to manage because it’s very far from the city and it only gets really crowded during the competition itself and not during other seasons.

The beaches of the Caramoan peninsula in Camarines Sur is getting a lot of publicity because of the local government’s efforts to position it as a destination of choice. Palawan is among the world’s most photographed places because of its picturesque sceneries and seemingly untouched resources, both underwater and on land.

Potipot Island used to be a secret until it was discovered and now flocked by backpacking tourists. Then, there’s Batangas, Panglao, Guimaras and many other nooks and crannies in these 7,107 islands.

There used to be plenty of beaches that fall under the category of “off the beaten path.” Today, we’re left with an endangered few. We take great pride in our beaches and our thriving beach culture. It’s one of the top, if not the top, tourism lures that we have and capitalize on.

But what are we doing to preserve these utterly precious natural wonders? Many of us have marveled at the famous Boracay sunset. We’re a lucky generation. Are we going to deprive the future generations of that one-of-a-kind experience and privilege?