The Tourism Potential of Angat Watershed

Some years ago when the national power corporation (NAPOCOR) sought me out to help in tapping the tourism potential of Angat Watershed.

But before that, let me tell you some stories shared by the people of Napocor. You see, there was a time when that government corporation in charge of electrical utilities in most parts of the Philippines was the envy of so many government people.

Napocor was literally “swimming in money” as the term is used to describe how financially well-off the agency was that it can easily buy or replace anything, no matter how expensive, that they would need for their operation. The employees were receiving monetary packages that other agencies can only drool at.

Alas! The good times came to an end after the series of governments used Napocor as a state collateral to secure international loans. The power plants were literally sold one by one to the private sector. The budget thinned out and the financial bonuses slowly became extinct.

It came to a point when napocor controls not most of the dams and powerplants anymore, but only the huge watersheds that that remains green. One of them is the Angat Watershed in Luzon which cover more than 60,000 hectares of forest, a huge lake, and many kilometers of waterways.

And boy, oh boy! I could not contain my excitement when i heard their stories and saw for myself the immense territory of the watershed and its mountains and forests. I said to myself that this place can become a perfect ecotourism destination.

Imagine a place where thick forests dominate the entire landscape. The only inhabitants are the indigenous tribes of Dumagat people and employees and forest rangers that protect the site. Of course, there were occassional illegal loggers that penetrate the site from time to time, but this is heavily curtailed due to active guarding of the watershed.

We explored the site and i helped identified what ecotourism activities that can be implemented. Viewpoints were geotagged and at least one viewdeck was built which is now used by all the visitors to Angat Watershed. So many nature-based activities were identified. The ones that avoid dusturbing the environment and the wildlife in the area. Projections on the number of visitors were made, and travel expenses that accrue not only to the site, but to the entire economy, was determined to reach billions of pesos per year (of course, if the required developments were made).

Everybody was excited. Well…. almost everybody, except some people who influence the decisions. For lack of appreciation and operational understanding of the tourism industry and possibly the required budget for development, the entire project did not go beyond the two baby steps (the construction of the viewdeck and the establishment of a short nature trail). I moved on with my freelance life and i heard that the napocor people i worked with retired one by one. The tourism potential of Angat Watershed remains a tourism potential, albeit still allowing people to visit the area to drive around up to the viewdeck.

I am still hopeful that time will come when the tourism potential of Angat Watershed and that added socio-economic benefits can be realized. It may take some time, even many years. But i still believe that its time will come.