Palawan gov’t mulls 5-year development plan for Calauit Safari Park

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/986887
• Thursday, May 11, 2017

By Celeste Anna R. Formoso (PNA)

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, May 11 -– The provincial government of Palawan is contemplating on coming up with a five-year development plan for the Calauit Safari Park on Calauit Island off the north-western coast of the municipality of Busuanga in a bid to increase its income.

The proposal, according to Assistant Provincial Agriculturist Dr. Romeo Cabungcal, would contain schemes on three major things to do on the safari park: “Explore, Discover, and Experience".

“It’s still a proposal; we have not even drafted anything, but based on my analysis, there is a need to increase the income of the safari park by putting in other activities for tourists to do,” he said Thursday.

According to Cabungcal, the idea of coming up with a five-year plan came out in the holding on May 9 of the Summit on Income Generation and Collection organized by the Palawan Provincial Administrator’s Office (PAO).

In this summit, he presented a finding that claims the Calauit Safari Park has been losing income because the population of the African and other endemic animals that once thrived there has now dwindled due to illnesses, and there is lack of activities there for visitors.

“The idea of the five-year plan was an offshoot of the summit,” Cabungcal said, adding everything is not final unless the development plan has been crafted.

Some strategies that can be included in the five-year development plan proposal, he said, are placement of new animals in the safari park, construction of guest houses that can accommodate visitors, and establishment of an area where products and items can be sold as souvenirs, among others.

It was also suggested during the summit to add the word “adventure” in the name Calauit Safari Park to improve branding.

“Branding plays an important role too, in marketing interesting places like Calauit Safari Park when the word adventure is added,” he said.

Meanwhile, according to Atty. Joshua Bolusa, provincial administrator of the Palawan government, the management of the Calauit Safari Park should write a business plan, which would describe the kind of venture that’s suitable.

He also suggested that a consultation be made with the indigenous peoples (IP) residents of the safari park to get to know their states of mind on the matter.

This business plan should have everybody’s contribution, so that eventually, the income of the park will increase, Bolusa said.

The summit served as a bridge for the provincial government to determine what actions should be undertaken to increase the income of its projects like the Provincial Economic Enterprise Development Office (PEEDO), Philippine Mining and Regulatory Board (PMRB), Provincial Health Office (PHO), hospitals in the provinces, and the Calauit Safari Park.

The Calauit Safari Park is a game reserve and wildlife sanctuary in Busuanga island town on a 3,700-hectare piece of land.

On August 31, 1976 under Presidential Proclamation No. 1578, it was declared as a wildlife sanctuary.

Among its early African wildlife inhabitants were bushbucks, elands, gazelles, giraffes, impalas, topis, zebras, waterbucks.