Butanding brings millions to fishing village in Oslob

It’s not surprising that a popular tourist destination in southern Cebu--Oslob-earns millions of pesos a year. Thousands of tourists flock to it every month.

The whale watching attraction in Barangay Tan-awan, Oslob earns even more after the closure of Boracay.

Just last week, tourists in the barangay reached one thousand a day, based on the town’s tourism records.

The Tan-awan Oslob Sea Warden and Fishermen Association (TOSWFA), composed of residents in the barangay, is the one handling the operations of the whale watching attraction.

The group’s president, Mark Larrence Rendon, 28, has been a member of the organization for six years now and was elected president just recently.

He said it was in 2012 when the whales, or butanding or tuki, started showing themselves in the waters off Tan-awan.

He quit his job as a Provincial Capitol clerk and worked as a boatman for tourists in his barangay.

“There are more opportunities here. It’s near our home and expenses are less,” he said.

It is said that each member of TOSWFA earns from P13,000 to P14,000 a week.

But Rendon said it still depends on the number of tourists, because the volume changes every day. He said there are more tourists during summer.

Rendon said foreign tourists usually visit the barangay on weekdays while local tourists drop by on weekends.

Yesterday, Superbalita Cebu visited the area and noticed many Chinese tourists there. Last week, Chinese visitors to the barangay reached 500 a day.

The Chinese are followed by Koreans and other Asians.

Because of the whales, the livelihood of residents has improved. One of them is Aikie Lagahid, 29, vice president of TOSWFA.

While before he received P2,000 every pay day as janitor at the Cebu Provincial Executive Building, now he was able to build his own house and buy a motorcycle.

He said his cost of living has also lowered since he began working in the whale watching industry.

Tan-awan Barangay Captain Teotima Berongan said the barangay was able to build more structures because of its income from tourists. One of these is their Barangay Hall worth P8.5 million and their covered court worth P4.5 million. They were also able to improve their school buildings and bought an ambulance.

The barangay receives P1 million a month from the whale watching business.

But the population of the barangay has grown along with the growth of its economy.

Before the whale shark business, the barangay only had 800 residents. Now it has 1,400.

Barangay Tan-awan only has four sitios and it receives P1.3 million in Internal Revenue Allotment.

Berongan also saw the increase in the number of establishments in the area, which has now reached 50, including inns, restaurants, hostels, resorts and others.

But Rendon said it’s not busy all the time in the barangay. Sometimes there are only 150 tourists during non-peak season, or when the weather is not good.

Aware of this, the organization saves part of its income so that the members can still receive something if the whales suddenly disappear.

Also, it doesn’t always mean that if there are tourists, there are people who buy items from the barangay’s souvenir shops.

Angie Dales, a sales girl of MCV Brothers Souviner Shop located near the shore, said there has been less customers in the shop for two months now.

“Some tourists couldn’t find time visiting our shop because their tourist guides would immediately leave and take them to the canyoneering area,” she said.

Still, foreigners make up the majority of their customers, she said.

Top items are souvenir shirts costing P170 to P190.

Estrella Durban, tourism staff of Oslob assigned in the whale watching industry, said there’s an ordinance on how to behave in the area, and a violation of this means a penalty of P2,500 or six-month imprisonment.

One of the banned actions is touching the butanding and swimming closer to them.