"Tourism is Everybody's Business"

I will not make criticisms to the initiatives made by the Tourism Council and the Provincial Tourism Office of Negros Oriental. I will just present here some comparisons on what Bohol and Negros Oriental did for making an effective action in promoting their different tourist spots. I hope this presentation will help us to understand our participation in making our province more aggressive in developing our natural and man-made tourist attractions.

Bohol and Negros Oriental are provinces in the same Region. Both provinces are under Region 7 – Central Visayas. Both provinces have something to show in terms of beautiful tourist attractions. Bohol has the chocolate hills, tarsiers, nice beaches, caves and waterfalls. Negros Oriental has caves, beautiful beaches, waterfalls, lakes, university town, and top dive sites. Both are full of resources to show to domestic and foreign tourists. But why is it that Bohol is more successful and developed in terms of their tourism industry compare to Negros Oriental?

The reason why Bohol is more successful with their tourism initiatives adhere towards the involvement of the whole sectors in the plan. Bohol adopted the concept, “Tourism is everybody’s business”. They made awareness what they have starting from the ordinary people up to the right authorities who push tourism industry as the primary source of generating their revenue. They created an environment that the people, government, and private sectors should be focused. They are involved in promoting Bohol. This is the reason why their tourism industry booms.

Experts said that Negros Oriental has a lot of potential tourist attractions and in fact some are already famous. But the problem is the proper coordination of the stakeholders. Some people are not aware of what we have in Negros Oriental and they don’t care about it. Although there are already initiatives being drawn, but there is a problem of implementation and commitment of the projects. The structure is not really clear to everybody. These problems cause a sluggish promotion of Negros Oriental’s tourism industry. These problems have been addressed during several meetings with the SMED Council of Negros Oriental but there are still unanswered questions.

For the province to successfully improve the tourism industry, I think there should be proper coordination of every sector involved in this industry. I remember an owner of a travel agency had a problem with the rainbow plate for their transportation making problems on their services offered to travelers and tourists. I hope this is already addressed. Aside from promoting the tourist spots we have here in the province, the tourism office will look first on the development of the sites, the transportation, accommodation and people within the province will be informed of what we have. If possible people will be involved in planning through their representatives. I commend that the Provincial Government of Negros Oriental has already laid budget for the development of the tourism spots in the province. This is an indication that the provincial government is serious with the improvement of out tourism industry. I hope the people involved here will work their part and serious with what they are doing..

For everybody, we have to help our province. Don’t just be blind, deaf or mute about our province. Be involved. We will do our part as citizen of this province. The government can’t do everything for us. We have to do our share. Everything will be successful if everybody will be involved and make initiatives to promote Negros Oriental. We have a lot to offer. We have plenty of potential attractions that other provinces don’t have. Let’s make tourism as everybody’s business and I’m sure we will be successful for what we are aspiring of. This is for all of us Negrenses. This is our pride.

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Wonders of the Nature of Man

How does man defines his rationality? How does man act? And how he deals with the environment he belongs?

Man has his perfection and his imperfections. He is perfect in the order of being, but is insufficient in the order of operation. Which means that he possesses existence which makes him a complete being. He has a matter and form (body and soul) which makes him complete as a man. In that sense, he is perfect as a being.

But man is insufficient in the order of operation, both in his spiritual nature and his material nature. He has in him the elements of the body and soul, by whatever terms they may be called: body and soul, mind and matter, body and spirit. The body, while being complete as a body, is limited in its capacities (operation), limited in its structure (size, weight, strength), and limited in its duration (mortality). The mind (intellect and will) on the other hand, reaches out to the infinite, universal, the highest level of aspirations. His capacity to know (intellect) and his capacity to desire (will) are both infinite. His quest for knowledge has no end, and his desire for things has no end either. But this capacity to know and to desire is only in a mode of sequentiality, not simultaneity. That is, man is capable of knowing everything and of desiring everything not all at the same time but one after the other. They constitute man’s imperfections and limitations.

In spite of these limitations, however, man surpasses all other material creations by virtue of his intellect and will or what may be summed up as his rationality. Man is a rational animal who, unlike all other animals, is capable of thinking and desiring, of understanding causality, and capable of perceiving his ends beyond the here and now. He knows how to play the game in diversity and to adapt what he is accustomed to. These are the reason that man keeps on finding his purpose and continue to discover what he has to discover beyond imagination. These created man as different from all other creatures.

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A Finale is not always Final

Things in this world are not absolute. I guess we cannot find any absolute matter in this world just like finding the perfect one. We are on the dilemma of what actions we may think of to pursue whatever dreams we may have. We can only find the right person or right things in our life. Everything has ending.

We come to a point that whatever we have right now, these will just go afterwards. Ending is always there. That is why we have to be prepared if these will happen soon. Everything being started has always ending. These are just temporary. We may encounter people and later on become your friend or someone whom you can lean on. We may experience extraordinary feelings that you could not explain like joy and happiness. However, it will just end at certain time. Life is very complex that sometimes you cannot solve the puzzle in it.

But whatever we may experience, started or ended, we should not be worry. Final is not always final. Instead, it is sometimes the beginning of a new chapter of hope and aspirations. It is the start of looking forward for the best and a start of new environment to adjust. I know it’s very hard to start and sometimes we don’t know how to start it. It is not clear where are we going and it is difficult to begin with something you don’t know. The purpose of ending is to begin with something more valuable and better life.

We want a better life and the purpose we are here in this world is to be happy. Do not deprive yourself of the happiness you want in life. Live your life to the fullest. You have the right to be happy. That’s what we are always aiming for. Make a finale as the beginning for a new journey, a new journey to live and love, a journey towards satisfaction, a journey that make your life more valuable and successful and a journey that leads to happiness.

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Foundation of Good Behavior

If there's one thing that often to note, to emphasize and value about human beings this is nothing but his conduct or behavior. It does not only dwell in mind but also to the hearts, spirit and action of a human being. It grips tight in the personality and this is the basis to know who will be given the highest appreciation and value.

All men are molded by good values and the right disposition is the fundamental basis of all values being taught since childhood. We cannot deny the fact that molding of good values should be done right from the beginning because of the reason that this will be the foundation of the conduct which you can posses until you will grow old.

Today, as teenager you are the one in this stage that need more guidance and direction in possessing good values in life. The aggressiveness to learn and listen the things that you want to know and to clarify so many things is an inherent trait you have. Because of this reality, the lessons you will get from whatever undertakings you have answer what you need. It is the right time for you to learn the different values that connects your personal beliefs to the norms of the society. The lessons may give emphasis on how you will socialize to others and it will harness your natural goodness that you should have as teenager who aspires of giving importance in life.

The true meaning of life comes from how truthful we are and how we value people around us. We are naturally created as good men and women. The only thing we can do it is to apply what we learned from the school, our parents, our peers and people around us who directly or indirectly affect and influence our behavior. There’s nothing better than to do better things for everybody. Our values define our character which specifies our personality.

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