Mutya ng Batangan 2011

 On the right path

   For Rhacia Wena Bagos, Tingloy town’s bet for the Mutya ng Batangan 2011, everything is now falling into place.  Not only is she maintaining her grades at the Batangas State University where she is currently on the  fourth year majoring in Chemical Engineering, but she’s already proven that she could do better in her chosen field.

   “My first choice was really not chemical engineering, but Tourism, because I really want to travel,”Rhacia Wena said.

Three years ago, when she was about to be interviewed at the University of Sto. Tomas where she applied for a tourism course, Rhacia Wena and her parents decided no to go.      

   “The tourism course would definitely enable me to travel if I become a flight attendant. And travelling the world is my dream. But as a normal student, I worry about my future,” Rhacia Wena said.

   And so, she decided to pursue Chemical Engineering at the BSU.

   “At the end of the day, I realized that what hurts in struggling to reach for the bright side is when you realize that you yourself are the dark side,” Rhacia Wena said,” My parents made me realize that I can always do better, and I can walk on the right side of life.”

   With the confusion gone, she was able to face the difficult challenges of her chosen course and promised herself to give it her best shot to  fulfil her  parents’ dreams for her.

  “We’re a middle income family who believes that education is one legacy that our parents can give us. It is the armour we can use in facing life’s challenges, and nobody can take it away from us,” she added.

   A charmer in her department, Rhacia Wena even won the first runner up title in the College of Engineering, Architecture, and Fine Arts Society in September 2010.

   The dream of being a flight attendant is now gone. It was been replaced by her plan of being a successful chemical engineer, a job that will take her to the world’s top tourism spots on her vacations.

   With tourism spots, Rhacia Wena says nothing can beat the charm of her island hometown of Tingloy.  Though her family maintains a house in Batangas city, they still call Tingloy their home paradise.

   “Coming home, we still have to get that boat ride and be amazed at the island strategically located in the center of the famous Verde Island Passage,” Rhacia Wena said, ”That’s just the ride home.  Home is paradise.”

   Now with electricity, hospital, and potable water supply in the island, progress there has made life better for the residents.

  Asked how she would promote Tingloy as a tourism destination, Rhacia Wena said she’d rather give the question to the government.

    "I’d like to ask the government that question too. How will the government promote and package Tingloy as a tourism destination without a circumferential road in the island that would enable local, foreign tourists, and even residents to go around and explore Tingloy?” Rhacia Wena said.

   “Tingloy island is already there, the best tourism potential to offer in our province. All the government has to do is to build the infrastructures needed and the tourism arrivals will automatically come,” she added.

   For an island girl who knows her way in and out of Tingloy, Rhacia Wena has seen how progress can change the lives of the island’s residents, and its potentials as a tourism destination.

   “Joining this Mutya ng Batangan 2011 would also help me show my capability and potential and especially what our town, Tingloy, can offer as a tourism destination,” she said,” And I believe I’m on the right path.”