SABLAYAN, Occidental Mindoro—Five foreign candidates of Miss Earth 2016 will pay a three-day visit to tthis “fairly unknown” rural town to explore its ecotourism destinations and “how these newly-discovered ecotourism spots are protected.”
“Our town and people of Sablayan, although fairly unknown, gladly welcome our visitors. We are lucky that our town was chosen as a venue of their visit despite the presence of other beautiful places in the Philippines,” Mayor Eduardo Gadiano said.
The five international candidates who will visit Sablayan from October 21 to 23 are Lyndie Kean (Australia); Candisha Rolle (Bahamas); Fenne Verecas (Belgium); Eliana Villegas (Bolivia), and Gloria Nelson (Guam).
According to pageant founder Lorraine Schuck, whoever will be crowned Miss Earth “will be expected to travel the world and carry out the mission to encourage the global community to make a change to save and protect the environment.”
“These are not just mere leisure activities. They will have a chance to meet with the locals and learn how these ecotourism spots are protected,” she said.
“We need to understand the need to raise funds through the promotion of our tourist spots, but not to the point of compromising nature. We also need to strike a balance between creating profit and conserving the environment for the benefit of small communities,” Schuck added.
Aside from Sablayan, the rest of the 90 Miss Earth candidates are also scheduled to visit Davao City, Island Garden City of Samal, Isabela, Tacloban City, Guimaras, Cebu, Boracay Island, Sorsogon, Benguet, Lanao and Butuan.
Among the places that they will visit in Sablayan are the Apo Reef Natural Park, Pandan Grande Island, Parola Park, and Libuao Lake. The candidates will also get to ride the world’s longest island-to-island zipline stretching 1.5 kilometers from Parola Park to Pandan Piqueno Island.
Other activities include a glass-bottom boat ride, mangrove planting, coastal clean-up, ribbon-cutting of a photo exhibit inside the Sablayan municipal hall and a grand motorcade around Sablayan town.