⌛ Sumilon Island

oh and also, the pick up point for the blue water boat to sumilon is in Mainit , the southernmost baranguay of Oslob - there is a large sign on the highway about 5 km north of santander
you can charter a large pumpboat (50 pax) from liloan for about 3000 peso if you have a really large group but bluewater will come walking up and try to extort 500 peso a head " docking fee" .... and most of the island and all of the foreshore is not part of the land they are leasing

 

The Bluewater resort might have control over their beach front because of the ‘foreshore lease’ or they may have control over the whole beach surrounding the island if they have another separate lease applied under the same ‘ Foreshore lease ‘ agreement . But the foreshore area is only limited up to the high tide and the low tide mark of the shore line. If you are diving and that most likely past the low tide mark, then you are fine.They should not be hassling you. Because the waterline past the low tide mark belongs to the municipality, and not under the foreshore lease of Bluewater .

No one can own shorelines they all belong to the government .But the purpose for this foreshore lease is to prevent squatters living on the beach and for environmental protection ,and no development is allowed. But if people would just swim and snorkel for leasure for only few hours, what harm does it do to the environment. I think the law regarding this ‘foreshore lease’ should need more definition and specific description .Because if all that is happening now in Sumilon only restricts local citizens of their leisure interests in the island ,without going through Bluewater Resort extorting money from the locals ,then their presence in the island is no good .This must be kind of abuse .
You can ask more information about this from the DENR (Department of Natural Resources ) branch in Santander or Oslob. But thanks for the information, this is one of the things we would never have the chance to know about unless somebody living directly close would tell us.

 

I heard Liloan has few resorts too.Don’t you think Liloan has the potential in the near future as another bigger seaside resort better than like Panagsama in Moalboal? Actually , I wish Sumilon was left empty as it was and remained as functional fish sanctuary . I think it would make a difference for the tourist resorts in the mainland and the local people . Just like Zamboangita-Dauin has Apo island ,Moalboal has the Piscador island ,Liloan -Santander - Oslob has also Sumilon.

But having Bluewater resort behaving badly trying to exercise its monopoly over the whole island isn’t creating a good business atmosphere in the neighboring communities unless corrected otherwise to its legal operational limits .In addition to the premise that it seem having its hands’ off with any responsibilities for the protection of Sumilon marine life , diminishes the perceived goodness of its presence in the island.

 

Santander will have to take marine conservation seriously and not just bleed the resorts with diving fees and dive resort taxes that are not used for the protection of the reefs - they are establishing another preserve there (between bato and liloan - there is one already in pasil) but there is nobody to enforce the fishing ban - liloan is growing as a dive destination - There are 4 dive centers and 3 other resorts there
there does seem to be some enforcement at sumilan island - by the municipality of Oslob - they took it from Silliman U back in '91 and let it get destroyed but are trying to make up for that mistake now - on the bright side there are more schools of fish there than on the mainland and the corals are recovering -
i need to ask about the foreshore in Oslob or at the DNR in Arga and see if they are allowed to charge for use of the sand bar , etc...

liloan has good corals and invertebrates but the fishing is so intense that anything that can be eaten is rare or diver shy

 

Sumilon Fees

I would love to bring my family over there, even have dinner at the resort over there..

But I aint going to pay a P500 extortion fee...

Tough lcuk, we will hit Coco Grove on Siquijor and Apo Island Beach Resort in stead on our tours.

 

500 pesos/head fee on demand just to step on their island,no way! That is abuse.

 

Bluewater used to have a 500 peso deal including a boat there and back and lunch - not that bad but i think that price went up - maybe even doubled - what really got me upset is when they asked us for 500 per head even though we had a boat and brought our lunch - although so far we (by we I mean my filipina wife) have managed to talk down the per head price we have been going there for the last 12 years for 10 peso a head - now we end up giving them 500 or so for 2 divers, a couple other foreigners and some locals but we are restricted to the sand bar - and its a hassle to have to haggle the price every time we go ...and there is no more exploring the island and walking to the lighthouse - I personally hope Bluewater goes out of buisness at this point

 

Siquijor is not a mindanao province but central visayas. The same region with Panglao, Apo, Sumilon, & Moalboal - blessed with the best dive sites in the world. It is just an hour away from dgte. Probably this thing that the island is inhabited by witches and dark spellers makes it quite unfavorable for some. But these are really hoaxes! Siquijor is great except that the tourism infrastructure is not well in place yet. Thats why setting up a business there on eco-tourism is best - not too many competitors yet.

 

Sumilon extortion fee

P500 just to set foot on the island, what are they thinking?

that equals 2 days minimum salary in the Philippines.

 

sumilan entry fee

we talked with the new oslob mayor and DNR

1. Sumilan has noi right to charge anyone on the sandbar anything
2. Oslob municipality fees are now 10 peso for local and 50 for foreigners - there is a proposal to raise it to 20 peso for residents of oslob, 50 for other filipinos and 200 for foreigners - children discounted
3. Blue water has petitioned DNR for a forshore lease and it will be denied if there are complaints of them extorting money from boats landing on the sandbar - they tried to get 200 peso per head including local children- we refused and the security sat on the stairs wondering what to do when we refused to leave. We complained to DNR - anyone who has had to pay should make a complaint to the Cebu DNR office to keep that resort off the sand bar!!!