TAGANAK ISLAND, Turtle Islands, Tawi-Tawi (MindaNews / 09 Nov) — Taganak Island can host only 10 to 20 tourists at a time. 

Twenty is the maximum possible carrying capacity of the island even as it pushes to become an eco-tourism destination, Abrille Oraiz, Municipal Tourism Officer, told MindaNews. 

Taganak is at least 10 hours away from Bongao in Tawi-Tawi, which itself is hours away from the airports of Zamboanga, Cotabato and Davao, and farther from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. 

According to Oraiz, the local tourism plans and ordinances in the municipality were adopted from existing guidelines from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, as well as other tourism codes. 

The island is currently finalizing the number, which is based on possible visitors and the number of accommodations. 

“For now, 10 to 20 tourists per day is the current safe limit,” she said. 

The island only has homestays and boarding houses for visiting tourists. 

Transportation is an altogether complex combination of high costs, limited options, and long travel times. 

From Zamboanga City, the cheapest boat ride costs each passenger around P3,000 to P4,000 one way. The travel takes at least two days and two nights. 

Passengers can also reach the area through rides from Bongao, Tawi-Tawi. 

If one has the funds and a passport, the island can be reached from Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan in Malaysia, with a one-hour speedboat ride from Sandakan to Turtle Islands.

A team from MindaNews was able to reach Taganak on board the BRP Mariano Alvarez through a 12-hour boat ride from Bongao, for Taganak’s 78th Adlaw sin Turtle Islands.

Oraiz acknowledged they have minimal tourism experience so they leveraged existing friendships with some BARMM vloggers and a handful of media from as far as Tawi-Tawi and Cotabato City to help promote the island event.

During the event, vloggers, government employees and officials, and personal guests of the Municipal Government were housed in homestay facilities and personal properties of government officials.

MindaNews stayed at the local Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Energy (MENRE) office to be closer to environmental sources for interview.

The municipality, on one hand, has successfully blocked off external intrusive activity such as undocumented dives and other tourism activities.  But it struggles with solid waste management, with trash strewn around an otherwise pristine white sand beach. 

Taganak, she said, plans to expand its capacity once its tourism systems are strengthened. 

Oraiz said the island had to balance eco-tourism promotion with wildlife conservation. 

Taganak is one of the islands of the Turtle Islands Municipality, made popular for the abundance of sea turtles that regularly lay eggs here. 

Local officials here said they were pushing to make eco-tourism one of their thrusts, but were still working on it. 

Eleven years ago, there were plans to build a P28-million hotel in the island. 

MindaNews reported in 2014 that the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) had approved a resolution authorizing the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) project. 

The plan would have consisted of one main building and eight cottages, a restaurant, as well as a power house.

Taganak is the largest island with an area of 116 hectares and the smallest is Sibaung with an area of only 0.1 hectare.

The municipality is located within the Sulu Sea at the southwestern tip of the country, at the edge of the international treaty limits separating the Philippines and Malaysia. (Yas D. Ocampo / MindaNews)