The researchers formulated questions about natural resources management : biodiversity

conservation at Hinulugang Taktak and one of our researchers Joei Guadalupe went to the office
of tourism to interview personally also to ask permission if it is alright to record the sources of
interviewee which they allow. Mr. Marino Bacani is the tourism officer and an expert who can
help us to conduct this paper by answering our questions systematically. Based on the interview
that was conducted Mr. Marino Bacani answered all the questions as follows:
According to Marino, back in time where Hinulugang Taktak was unstable and wasn’t cleaned
properly they cannot see any birds or other various animals roaming around the area. He talks
about an Egret, Egret is a type of Philippine bird that loves to eat fishes and these types of
animals was seen by them when Hinulugang Taktak was properly maintained and cleaned they
started seeing Egrets that ranges from 14-15. Since the area was already rehabilitated, he
mentioned that they started seeing tagak around the rice fields and wild animals such as snakes
and small crocodiles as they called hatchlings, there are different varieties of plants and flowers,
although Mr. Marino Bacani was not familiar with the entirety types of names but he mentioned
some of them which are: Tipolo trees, Nara trees, Fire trees, Nemahogani trees, and Macao trees.
He also mentioned that the DENR has an inventory of the plants and flowers that’s present in
their area.

In addition, there are a lot of students who visit Hinulugang Taktak and these students are also
studying Hinulugang Taktak and used it as a topic in their thesis paper. As a result of that, he and
the chief executive are greatly proud because Antipolo is one of the competitive cities in the
Philippines. In the case of increasing of tourist in Hinulugang Taktak it didn’t lead to the
destruction of the area. Mr. Marino Bacani specifically mentioned that the cause of its
destruction was the increase of population and pollution in the are, the waterways system wasn’t
been maintained, he also indicated that the visitation of tourists in their area led into history
where the province of Rizal ranked number 9 in the top 10 tourist places in the Philippines.
Accoriding to Mr. Marino Bacani Increase of tourism did not have a negative impact on the
biodiversity of Hinulugang Taktak, he declared that there are no trash bins inside the area
because they wanted to imply to the tourist that they need to keep their own trash and throw it in
their home. He pointed out that we Filipinos have the tendency to throw our trash when we see
the place is messy and dirty, that’s why they have their regular staff to instruct the people to keep
the place clean so the tourist will not be tempted to throw their trash anywhere in the area.
Considering there’re a lot of tourists in the area 75% of the entrance fees collected was used for
the preservation of the Hinulugang taktak, and he indicates that Hinulugang Taktak was only
managed by the government of Antipolo with the agreement of the provincial government and
DENR, the remaining 25% was used for national purposes but with the approval of the board of
electors.

Mr. Marino Bacani said that they need to make the area twice as much better and by doing that
they used tree planting projects that even the NGOs participated by donating different kinds of
plants.This is strongly supported by DEN’s study in a way that Calawis Community
Rainforestation Training Workshop was held in Luzon, Antipolo. This workshop was
implemented in order to develope protect the community in Antipolo City (DENR, 2014)The
Mayor and the Governor said that they can donate anything to help the area but not through cash,
what they need are plants and tools to utilize their projects, since there are different species of
plants in the area that keeps on growing. Mr. Marino Bacani also stated that they must take care
of the plants and animals. moreover, he mentioned that the effects of the behavior of tourists in
the biodiversity of Hinulugang Taktak when they abuse the environment and by not throwing the
trash properly, hopefully he said that tourists won’t become like that in the future, even smoking
in the area will be penalized. Also, the tourists behave in an appropriate manner since there are
staff who roams around the area, he is urging everyone to have self-discipline due to the fact that
they must learn to love the environment and he used the example of Boracay which he compared
it to Hinulugang Taktak that in the first place Hinulugang Taktak was older than Boracay,
Hinulugang Taktak was rehabilitated without the command of a President which he is
emphasizing that love for environment and self-discipline is the key to have a better
environment.

Mr. Marino Bacani also mentioned that the difference between tourism and ecotourism is that
ecotourism is the place where we are and tourism is (di daw naintindihan ni jigs). Hinulugang
Taktak is called ecotourism because of it’s nature such as the water, plants things that you see
around the area. He said that ecotourism is practiced in the area in a way that there is a strict
implementation of rules such as the tree planting. Also, the revenues of the Hinulugang Taktak
contributes to the improvement of the place. Furthermore, the ecotourism also contributes to the
conservation of biodiversity in hinulugang Taktak. Mr. Bacani said that when Hinulugang
Taktak started to be cleaner, fishes and birds appeared around the place. On the other hand, the
flora around the area improved and the plants were also given names.