The municipalities of Cavinti, Lumban, and Pagsanjan in the Province of Laguna have signed a tripartite agreement aimed at uniting the stakeholders of the world-renowned Pagsanjan Falls to reinvigorate tourism and to preserve and protect the Pagsanjan Gorge National Park (PGNP).
This unity, according to Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco who witnessed the signing, would propel hope for the tourism resurgence of Pagsanjan as a source of livelihood to generations of Filipinos.
Held at the Municipal Hall of Pagsanjan, Cavinti Mayor Arrantlee Arroyo, Lumban Mayor Rolando Ubatay, and Pagsanjan Mayor Cesar Areza signed the Tripartite Agreement also witnessed by Laguna Governor Ramil Hernandez and DOT-CALABARZON Regional Director Marites Castro.
“A person’s will will pass through mountains like a waterfall – like the Pagsanjan Falls – and it will always get to where it needs to go. It will find a way.”
“It has been said that a person’s will is like water. It is unstoppable. It will pass through mountains like a waterfall – like the Pagsanjan Falls – and it will always get to where it needs to go. It will find a way,” the tourism chief said.
“What I see today, in the signing of this Memorandum of Agreement among the three local government units with the support of the provincial government, is the sheer will and strength of spirit of the people of Laguna that refuse to be defeated by the many crises, difficulties, challenges and even the passing of time; all these in your determination to value that which God has given and that which has been a source of livelihood for the people of the three municipalities, and for the province — Pagsanjan Falls,” the tourism head stressed in her keynote message.
She also administered the oath of the members of the newly formed Pagsanjan, Cavinti, and Lumban (PACALUM) Tourism Council, which will jointly oversee the operation and regulation of the development and management of tourism activities within the river’s two-kilometer stretch, which passes through 16 barangays.
The local communities, in turn, are expected to reap economic benefits from the sharing of profits from income collected from its activities.
To further equalize development of tourism in Laguna, Frasco also announced the establishment of a tourist rest area (TRA) in another neighboring town Bay, the revival of the old Pagsanjan Resort which will be through a private-public partnership under the DOT’s infrastructure and enterprise arm, and donating more boats for the Pagsanjan boatmen.
“A tourist rest area in another neighboring town Bay will soon be established.”
She also personally handed over the P200,000 cash donation, she and her husband House Deputy Speaker Duke Frasco pledged last month, to support the education of the boatmen’s children.
