Wakeskating at Banaue Rice Terraces creates stir

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

BANAUE, Ifugao – Videos of professional wakeskaters Brian Grubb of the United States and DominikPreisner of Germany recently went viral all over the worldwide web when they did their stunts at the famed IfugaoRice Terraces.

Credit it to the two daredevils for putting the rice terraces in the world map and inviting much interest in the age-old seventh wonder of the world. Their stunts, a rarity like the place where they did it, however received both approval and criticism.

Now, Ifugao Rep. TeodoroBaguilat Jr. is seeking a probe on the event while the Tourism department sees nothing wrong with it.

Baguilat, a Kiangan and formerly deeply involved in the preservation of the rice terraces while in the private sector reportedly said the issue was of grave concern.

The Tourism department, meanwhile, said the area where the wakeskating happened is a private property and not within the preservation site.

It added the activity was a publicity stunt of the cash-strapped town that cannot afford a centavo for promotion and only wanted more tourists to come so they could earn a living.

Wakeskating is similar to the popular water sport wakeboarding but users are not bound to the board.

In the video, Grubb said the rice terraces were "a wakeskate paradise but no one even knew (they were) here."

But Baguilat said the centuries-old terraces were created for food production and all other uses are secondary and must be appropriate to the ecosystem of the terraces.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) placed the terraces in the list of endangered heritage sites because of its rapid deterioration.

           

The Department of Agriculture meanwhile said theIfugao Rice Terraces, though more popularly known as a tourism destination, is foremost an agricultural wonder, amid the stir created by the wakeskating stunt by extreme sportsmen purportedly to get “free” international attention.

Director Danilo Daguio, assistant regional director for operations of the DA-Cordillera,  said the rice terraces is for rice production.

The tourism wonder of the more than 2,000 year old gargantuan stone-walled edifice straddling Hungduan, Kiangan, Mayaoyao and Banaue towns comes after its agricultural value.

It is said if the steps were put end to end, it would encircle half the globe because of the wide expanse.

           

Amidst the positive and negative comments on the issue, methinks there was nothing wrong with the stunts as these were reportedly allowed by indigenous folks and government officials in accordance with their local customs and traditions.

            

They are not even complaining as they may have realized that the more tourists visit the terraces, their livelihood would be enhanced.

            

More of their woodcarvings (one of the main livelihood industries of the towns) would be bought, those who are not employed could guide tourists for a fee, local inns and eateries would have more sales, along with the many benefits tourism could bring.

            

Besides, wakeboarding could only be done around one or two months of the year when the rice have already been harvested and the soil is bare of the plants as these are prepared for the next planting season.

            

Wakeboarding won’t destroy the environment at the terraces. These won’t even instigate landslides. So the two daredevils, the locals, those in the tourism industry and other stakeholders should instead be praised for the stunts and bringing interest in the terraces worldwide.

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Wakeboarding at the Ifugao Rice Terraces” as a tourism slogan, why not? Pretty soon some copycats, to get worldwide attention, would try bungee jumping at the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty or the Hanging Tower of Pisa.

But then, some could cash in and criticize the copycats to gain worldwide publicity too. As to the Philippines, credit it to its imaginative and greedy officials and their corrupt cohorts.

Now the Senate hearings on the Napoles grandmother of all scams have attracted worldwide attention as Sen. Miriam gave fiery lectures on jurisprudence and wrongdoings of some of her colleagues that the wakeboarding stunts have paled in comparison as we watch from a distance.

Ahhh, the ways of the world.