5 Reasons To Save Dahican Beach

Dahican Beach as you may never see it again

Photo courtesy: Girlie Cervantes

The first and most obvious reason to save Dahican Beach is that very few people have ever been here and imbibed its beauty on a sunny afternoon, with a gentle Pacific Ocean breeze bringing the sounds of dolphins frolicking in front of a beach that they know is protected by Man . . .

 

Dahican Beach is one of the Philippine’s most beautiful beaches. It’s 8 kilometres of undeveloped, almost-white sand faces the Pacific Ocean and there is basically nothing between it and Hawaii. The swells come in and run up the beach, gently caressing and shaping the sand as the water recedes. The dolphins and whales drop by to play as is there way. The turtles come in and drag themselves up the beach to find the perfect spot for them to lay their eggs.

In fact, it is the turtles dragging themselves up the beach that gives the beach it’s name. “Dahican” means to drag oneself along on one’s belly – just as the turtles have done here for eons.

So why does Dahican Beach need saving?

During the past decade Dahican Beach has been the home and the responsibility of the Amihan Boys of Mati. Erstwhile orphans who under the tutelage of their mentor and adopted father, Jun Plaza, and with the support of the former mayor of Mati, now go to school, clean the beach, protect the turtles, run the turtle hatchery, protect the dolphins, guide & educate the few tourists who come to enjoy Dahican Beach’s beauty & serenity and represent the Philippines at international skimboarding competitions – a skill they have learned and practice daily on Dahican Beach.

With the coming of the new mayor things are changing. Little marker stones have appeared along the beach indicating land claims, notices of request for title and foreshore lease have reportedly been lodged with the municipal office, potable water supply facilities are underway along long stretches of the beach. Although the public announcements claim to be considering sustainable tourism development, the aforementioned actions of the landowners and the mayor’s office do not support these announcements. In fact, rumors around the town suggest that the beach is slated to be promoted as the “Boracay of Mindanao”. And this, while the DENR is reportedly working with the landowners and the municipal to ensure protection of the environment? I have never seen it happen before.

The land where the Amihan Boys live and the turtle hatchery on Dahican Beach were recently put on the market for sale. Presumably, when sold, unless to a philanthropist, the orphans will be without a home once more and the turtles will have to compete tourists to find a place to lay their eggs, from where their hatchlings can safely return to the sea, without Man’s protection.

Anyone who has ever been to Boracay Beach will know that the turtles will never again be able to safely return to Dahican Beach. And the dolphins and the whales will no longer trust Man when the jetskis and banana boats terrorize their vacationing spots.

Developing Dahican Beach to be the Boracay of Mindanao will be the dumbest act ever envisaged by any administration. Mati is four hours by private car from Davao International Airport, five hours by bus – there are no airports closer. Along the road to Mati you have to pass areas that are considered less than safe because of the presence of NPA and other lawless groups . . . how easy would it be to stop the convoys of tourists traveling along the only road from Davao to Mati by simply disabling a bridge – do you remember why we have no railway anymore from Manila to the North? All the NPA had to do was to steal a single section of rail and then the trains could not run for fear of derailment.

If I want to visit a place like Boracay I would go to Boracay – its easy: a 45-minute flight from Manila or Cebu and 20 minutes to cross to the island, compared to 90-minute flight from Manila and a four hour drive along potentially disrupted highway.

Okay, I might want cleaner water than along Boracay Beach but then again, there are no slated municipal plans to add a sewage system alongside the potable water systems at Dahican beach so it will end up the same as Boracay – polluted.

What we are looking at here is simple greed. Greed that allows someone to buy a piece of land that has little “value” as a coconut plantation but, once the promotional machine has churned a few rounds of speculative advertising, the land will be worth a hundred times what it is today. Until the bubble bursts or until the NPA (or others) disable a bridge.

The Amihan Boys will be gone, the dolphins will be gone and the turtles will be gone forever . . . for a few pesos more.

I was lucky enough to visit Boracay and Puerto Galera in 1982 when they were truly beautiful places to behold, today they are plain ugly. Please, for the sake of the Amihan Boys, the dolphins and the turtles that gave this beautiful beach its name, please save Dahican Beach from development.

Find out more about Dahican Beach, Mati here