The Taal Island Spa Resort Project

The Taal Island Spa Resort Project

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Spa on the crater of Taal Volcano? I am definitely not on it. There are so many reasons why we should oppose with this kind of project. I seemed that the Korean company planning to construct it have found a perfect piece of land, signed an agreement and receive the blessings from someone in the government without considering the many negative things it can give the environment and the locals. Among those who protested to the developmennt of the wellness spa were the local community, the local goverment and many militant and environmentalist groups whose goal is to protect and preserve a sanctuary as unique as the smallest volcano in the world.

One of the main reason why this project should not be pursued is that because Taal is an active volcano, that means that the area is a permanent danger zone. And for your information, a level one alert has been in place there since 2005. Though at first it was appoved and was given a certificate by the environment department's secretary of the Philippines, it was suspended and its construction was stopped after he personally inspected the project and talked with residents. The inspection team discovered five violations of the 27 conditions on which the certificate was issued. Another thing suspicious about this project was the question of how a public land like this was owned by someone, considering he was a foreigner too. There comes the conclusion that their ownership of the land was fake, so they cannot be allowed to go after with the project. The claim that the land was sold by the owner to the Korean company based on a Spanish title was questionable too because it is said that the lot was acquired by the original owner's family in 1916. Senator Pia Cayetano said that even if the Spanish title was authentic it should have been re-registered under the American Torrens title system, which discontinued the Spanish mortgage system. This only says that the ownership of the land by the Koreans who bought it from the original owners under the Spanish title is no sense. With this, they cannot build a Spa Resort at the place. Because of this, inhabitants of the world's smallest active volcano are up in arms against the impending construction of the resort spa. They said: "We have been here in the island of Taal since the 1920s and we have tilled the soil from then on. We will not allow any corporation to take away our land; we will defend it to death," I agree with them. Why allow the foreigners to build it and earn from it while those who cultivated it will become landless and hungry, right? It will be just a waste of time and money for the Koreans. Filipinos are not narrow-minded not to know there hidden agendas conserning about this project.

As a future tourism practitioner, I am against