INQUIRER Global Nation

Tourists going island-hopping off Mactan were recently surprised when they were asked to pay P100 per person when they visited the Hilutungan Marine Sanctuary.

The fee was being collected by representatives of a Filipino-Korean company.

When sought for comment, Cordova town Mayor Adelino Sitoy defended the fee collection, saying the amount would go to the maintenance of the marine sanctuary and Lava islet.

Lava islet is the site of a proposed 18-hectare golf resort being built by a Korean group as well as a reclamation project planned by the town.

“I have earmarked what will be earned from the fees to develop the island and its residents including that of the fishermen,” he said.

“There is also a project of one toilet per household in order to maintain the cleanliness of the area.”

The Filipino-Korean group was tapped through bidding by the Cordova government, according to the mayor, because the municipality cannot guard the entire marine sanctuary.

He said the firm was tasked to secure and maintain a 200-hectare buffer zone surrounding the Hilutungan marine sanctuary while the municipal government would secure 40 hectares within the island and the marine sanctuary itself.

Cordova town is building a bridge that will connect the mainland to the islet, which is favored by tourists because of its white sand and nearby marine sanctuary.

In a letter sent to media outlets, Joel Mari Yu, managing director of the Cebu Investments Promotions Center (CIPC), asked why P100 was being collected.

He said he took a foreign visitors on a pumpboat for island-hopping last weekend, “which never fails to impress CIPC’s visitors to Cebu.”

He said the group was stopped at the fish sanctuary at the Hilutungan channel by another boat, where a man collected P100 per person.

Yu said they were told this was a “new arrangement” being imposed by a Korean who had secured rights from the local government.

With this, most boats now turn away from Hilutungan, a good site for snorkelling.

Mayor Sitoy however said the fee collection had been in place for about 12 years.

When he took office lasts year, he signed an P18-million three-year contract with the firm to guard the waters off the island for half a million pesos per month.

“Who is he to complain when even I pay for the ticket when I go to Hilutungan. That is for the maintenance and protection of the sanctuary,” Sitoy said in Cebuano.

He said the municipal fees will be used for electricity and water services in the island.

“There is nothing illegal about it, it is authorized,” added Sitoy.