MADRID, Surigao del Sur – An online group is
promoting whitewater river rafting here as a way to protect and
preserve the Carac-an River in this municipality.
The Madridanon Facebook Group (MfbG) successfully held its first
Paypag Challenge, a 4-kilometer rafting race, last Thursday (Feb. 28).
(Paypag is a term used by the indigenous people to refer to a bamboo
raft.)
The group launched the concept of sporting activities aimed towards
ecotourism and environmental awareness not only for this town but
hopefully for the rest of the CarCanMadCarLan area, which include the
municipalities of Carrascal, Cantilan, Carmen and Lanuza.
Yvonne dela Cuesta, MfbG event coordinator, said the group’s efforts
came together with their unified stand against mining.
“Our Facebook group was formed with our objectives to fight against
mining. We then reached a conclusion that in order to fight against
these [giant] mining companies, we need to offer alternative solutions
to the people and have them see a different picture,” she said.
“Paypag has been the traditional way of transporting goods from the
different riverside communities near Carac-an river. The river has so
much ecotourism potential and we see the event as a steppingstone to
hopefully evolve into a much bigger festivity in the future and draw
more people to our call to protect our very source of life, the
Carac-an River,” Dela Cuesta said.
She added that Carac-an River has been the major source of fresh water
not only for Madrid but to the farmlands in the towns of Cantilan and
Carmen.
Mario Llamas, president of the Parish Pastoral Council of St. Isidore
Parish in Madrid town, stressed the importance of making people aware
of the dangers of large-scale mining and illegal logging on the
Carac-an River.
“We rely on the river for our drinking water and irrigation for our
farm lands,” he said. He added that should the river dry up, Madrid
and the nearby towns will fail to produce sufficient amount of crops. (Erwin Mascariñas / MindaNews)
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