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Archbishop Ramon Arguelles believes in the beauty of
Batangas and the governor's plan to enhance its tourism potentials.
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Batangas City—In the middle of the controversy
over the much parodied “Hollywood-inspired”
signage that was planned to be put up on Taal Volcano that criticized and
bullied Batangas Governor Vilma Santos-Recto, Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles
is now telling the cyberbullies to stop the bullying.
“If those bullies are Batangueños, I would ask them
to stop. Makisama naman sila. If they are not Batangueños, then they should
promote their own province. We will help the governor on this,” Arguelles said.
Gov. Vilma, also an actress, said she was shocked at
the barrage of calls she got last Thursday when the news of the planned
landmark on the Tall Volcano island came out in a national newspaper.
Along with the story was a Taal Volcano photo from
the office of Vice Governor Mark Leviste II with a photoshoped Hollywood style
signage of Batangas, that seemed to claim the world’s smallest volcano as the
province’s treasure.
The story said that the provincial council approved on October 5 a resolution,
not an ordinance, that supported the
erection of the landmark that was supposed to enhance the province’s tourism
potential.
Since the story broke out, netizens, photoshop experts, and cyberbullies
have started criticizing the governor, putting up photoshoped enhanced photos and memes of
other Philippine landmarks with signages that were meant to to heckle
the Gov. Vi.
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| The parodies went viral, as even events, famous DPWH photoshoped people, and Gov. Vi’s character in the movie “Darna” were used to ridicule the governor. |
Asked if the cyber bullying has
been hurting her, the governor said no.
“I am used to this. This is not our first time. In the first place you cannot please
everybody, and please let us not over react and over magnify this. The signage plan is not final yet, it’s being
studied. Modesty aside, I’m an actress,
that’s why they’re heckling me. I am not
worried if they are toying with me. What really bad is that those people are
just playing with the issue. Please don’t
do that,” the governor said.
To the cyberbullies, Gov. Vi said, she definitely
cannot stop them.
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| Enjoy it while it lasts, Gov. Vilma tells the bullies. |
“The cyberbullies should enjoy it while it lasts. I guess the most important thing is the truth. So whatever your opinion is, we will respect that, but I hope you will also respect our opinion,” Gov Vi added.
According to Batangas provincial administrator Engr. Victor Reyes, the
signage wasn’t even in the governor’s Annual Investment Plan (AIP).
“The Taal Volcano is under the Protected Area Management Board. In 1996,
during the administration of former President Fidel Ramos it was declared as
eco-tourism area and was included in the 1,497 World Heritage sites. By law, we
cannot put any structure there that can deface the natural environment,” Reyes,”
and besides, there is no fund for that.
According to Reyes, before they could even plan the
beautification project, the provincial government is still busy dismantling the
illegal fishcages in the Taal Lake. For
now, they have dismantled over 6,500 fishcages in the lake.
Batangas’ new provincial tourism officer Emilie Katigbak, has no comment
on the issue.
But as the parodies got worse,
the governor was the getting hit from all sides, she felt it wasn’t heckling
anymore.
“Gov. Vi should be firm about
this. And she should fight for
Batangas,” Arguelles said.
Arguelles added that he is behind the governor and that she should also
concentrate on removing the fishcages in Taal Lake.
“Those fishcages should be dismantled because those are the real
eyesore, not the proposed landmark,” Arguelles added,” We just have to make
sure that the signage Batangas will be really put up in the Taal Volcano. It’s beaty makes us so proud to be Batangueños, but
other people are getting money from the it.”
According to an official statement released by Batangas provincial
information officer Jing Segismundo, she said the Batangas landmark on Taal
Volcano was just a proposal and nothing is final yet.
Segismundo said that the governor is unaware of the first article that
came out on a major broadsheet and “she doesn’t deserve to be ridiculed on the
matter that resulted from over-reaction.”
In the statement, Segismundo added that the idea was just a part of the
Tourism Development Plan for Taal Lake and that the photo was not an official
release of the provincial government.
According to Leviste, he doesn’t mind the parodies, and heckling because
the idea of putting up the landmark has already served it’s purpose.
“Because of that idea, the whole world knows that Taal Volcano is in
Batangas, not Tagaytay. It’s a hot topic now.
We welcome comments and suggestions as long as they are objective,” Leviste said.
World-famous for its
location within a freshwater lake, Taal Volcano is also a declared protected
area in 1996 by the National
Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS). This means that by law, it is
prohibited to put any structures in the area.
With
the best view of the volcano seen in Tagaytay, a mountain resort city in the
nearby province of Cavite, most people often mistake it to be part of Cavite.
It
was the Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham Tolentino’s
comments about the “insecurity” of putting up the Hollywood style
signage that also added the heat on the issue.
Taal Volcano and Tagaytay city’s strategic location that benefits from
the volcano located in Batangas has long been the subject of running jokes in
the capitol.
During the administration of former governor (1995-2004) and now
Batangas second district representative Hermilando Mandanas, he used to joke
that he would put up a giant curtain over Taal Volcano, so that the people in
Tagaytay wouldn’t be able to see it and won’t gain anything from its tourism
benefits.
The joke goes around that it was answered by the former mayor of
Tagaytay city who said if the curtain was drawn, he would just put a token to
open like, the slot machines in the casinos of Tagaytay.
According to Mandanas’ former provincial information officer Nomer
Macalalad, the joke wasn’t known at that time simply because the governor was
not a showbiz personality, the internet
was not that widespread yet, and there was not photoshop yet. (Mei Magsino)
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