South Leyte tourism office pushes initiatives at barangay level

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Tourism activities in Southern Leyte province have penetrated to the basic political unit, the barangay, where it matters most.

According to provincial tourism officer Nedgar Garvez, barangay tourism councils had been formed at the barangays in some towns of the province, where the village leaders took the cudgels in planning activities that attract visitors to come to their place.

Leading the pack in the barangay-based tourism approach was the town of Tomas Oppus whose twenty-nine (29) villages have already organized their respective tourism councils and are now functional, Garvez said.

Barangay San Pedro, an island in Hinunangan, also has its own set of officers manning the tourism council, Garvey added.

Garvez said the municipality of Pintuyan with its 23 barangays has been contemplating to have their tourism council each soon which will be done in one setting.

But even without a formal tourism council yet, barangay Catbawan of Pintuyan held its centennial celebration May 22, Garvez disclosed, adding that one of the highlights of the commemoration was the holding of the first “Layag Festival.”

16 participants competed for the open “Layag Festival”, an activity which organizers hoped would be institutionalized by conducting it every barangay anniversary of Catbawan in the coming years.

Last May 7, barangay Biasong in Libagon had their annual fiesta, and they held the “Pinipig Festival.”

“Layag” is a bisayan term that means sail, a reference to the sailboats commonly used in coastal barangays, while “pinipig” means crushing hushed palay into polished, heated rice, a traditional ritual every harvest time, though only a few practiced it by the passage of time.

Special talents, skills, and ingenuous culture unique in the barangay will be showcased in a festival at the barangay level, and with 500 barangays in the entire province of Southern Leyte, this must be an exciting celebration for local and foreign tourists to watch and behold, Garvez mused.