This is a story of two western Pangasinan towns which, years ago, both rejected multi-billion peso cement plant complexes proposed by international consortium of companies.

Bolinao and Agno made it to national and international map when their residents bitterly fought protracted wars against the factories that would have entombed in cement their scenic towns. They were not alone in the fight, though, as environmentalists and marine scientists from all over the country and even the world backed them up in shooing away the investors.

It was Bolinao – a town gifted with pristine beaches, caves, waterfalls, verdant hills, islands, crystal-clear rivers and eight thousand hectares of coral reefs in the Lingayen Gulf – which first caught the eyes of the foreign investors. The Tuntex Group of Companies of Taiwan and their Filipino and Japanese partners, proposed in 1992 a P13-billion peso package of a cement factory, a coal-fired power plant, a quarry area, a wharf and a 10-km conveyor belt.

Most residents were not swayed by the promises of employment and development of the proponents. They bonded themselves together and explained to their townmates what were at stake – the town itself and its God-given resources. They said "no" to the plant. The war lingered on for years until finally, on August 6, 1996, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources issued a rejection of the plant’s environmental compliance certificate (ECC).

A year after the euphoria in Bolinao died down, it was Agno’s turn to wage a war against yet another foreign investor – Goldsun Cement Corporation of Taiwan and partners, Nihon Cement Corporation of Japan and GML Corporation of the Philippines. The proposed plant would also have a port, a quarry site and a coal-fired power plant.

Like Bolinao, Agno boasts of picturesque beaches fronting the South China Sea, rolling green hills and a generally unspoiled ecology. Both also have natural sea ports which would have made it easier to transport cement to other countries.

Underneath both towns’ grounds are rich deposits of limestone, silica and other materials needed for making cement, over which foreign investors cast moist eyes.

But both towns have something more important in common – people who would stand their ground when their towns’ ecological purity is at stake.

The "war" in Agno ended on March 29, 2003 when the extended ECC died a natural death after the proponents were not able to introduce any form of development in the project site.

Fast forward to 2005. It has been almost 10 years after Bolinao denied the entry of a "monstrous" cement plant. Thanks to the free publicity that it generated however, tourists started to flock into the town.

Margaret Celeste, one of those who led the anti-cement plant war and head of the Movement of Bolinao Concerned Citizens Inc., said eco-tourism was actually the "better alternative" to the environmentally-destructive cement plant.

"We have been proven right," she declared. "There were no regrets about our decision to reject the plant. The town has gone a long way and the people never looked back."

Both residents and non-residents saw the area’s potentials as a tourism site and started to invest in resorts and hotels.

Celeste recalled that even long before the cement plant was proposed, foreign visitors have been coming to the town. Her guests at family-owned Celeste Resort were usually Americans and Europeans who would stay for weeks or even months to enjoy the town’s natural beauty, she recalled.

But it is a different story altogether during the "post-cement plant era" when resorts mushroomed all over the beaches overlooking the Lingayen Gulf and the South China Sea. Whereas before, the town offered only "low-medium end" resorts, it now offers high-end ones, such as the Puerto del Sol which offers world-class facilities. Most resorts are located on the town’s western side.

"Visitors have choices now," said Ronaldi Torres, vice president of the Bolinao Hotel, Resorts and Restaurants Owners Association (BHRROA). Torres started an eatery under "four umbrellas in 1997 but has since built a building to house his restaurant.

The BHRROA was organized sometime back to help strengthen the tourism industry in the town and has at present 21 members. "We have to unite and help each other," Celeste added.

Among its plans was the putting up of a tourism office and organizing the different sectors, like boat owners and tricycle drivers, in the town to help the tourism industry.

While it is the private sector that propels the town’s tourism industry, Celeste admitted that it cannot do the work alone. For instance, "it is still the government which could pave the roads," she noted.

It seemed that everyone wanted to join the "fun" such as telephone companies and even those offering tour packages like the Athena Travel Tours and Events, which have included Bolinao as a destination.

"We are really having a good time here. Our dreams are coming true," Celeste said. "Even small businesses like sari-sari stores, fish vendors, boat owners, binongey (rice cooked in bamboo poles) makers…all are benefited."

The BHRROA also plans to make the aquaculture business a part of the town’s tourism industry. "We could show how bangus (milkfish) is cultured in cages," Torres said. The other tourist sites are the fish sanctuaries and mangrove plantations.

The town engaged in a multi-million peso aquaculture business which almost collapsed when it was hit by a massive fishkill in 2002. The local officials, with the support of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, wised up and regulated the industry which is so far going smoothly.

Provincial Administrator Virgilio Solis Jr. who is from the town and who owns the Rock Garden Resort, said the tourism industry could also pose environmental hazards.

"For instance, we have to find ways to prevent solid and liquid wastes problems that could crop up later," he said.

Recently, Governor Victor Agbayani created the Pangasinan Tourism Incorporated to boost the province’s tourism industry. Its president is Raymond Reyes, owner of the Bolinao Treasures Resort and most officers were from the town.

Agno’s experience

Agno, which only able to chase off foreign investors eager to exploit the town’s rich mining deposits a couple of years back, is still reeling from the protracted war.

Like in Bolinao, the opposition to the Goldsun-proposed cement plant was led by non-government organizations, specifically Agno Concerned Citizens for Ecologically Secured and Sustained Development (Access).

Lydia Colobong, Access’s vice president, said the NGOs are trying their best to introduce developments in the town but are met with indifference from the local officials, most of whom supported the establishment of the cement plant.

Colobong said the activities introduced in the town are mostly on agriculture and fishery. Access has tied up with Volens, a Belgian-based NGO which is promoting organic farming and undertaking reforestation project in the area, The NGO has put up a nursery of trees in Boneg village, one of the proposed quarry sites.

There have been "advances" in agriculture such as in the production of yellow corn and organic rice; and fish catch still abound, she claimed.

The Diocese of Alaminos Social Action is also helping the residents through putting of payaw (artificial reefs) in the sea and the fishermen are also planning to establish fish sanctuaries in the town.

Some residents are still wondering what might have been if the cement plant was constructed. "Maybe there are jobs for the residents. Maybe there are more developments," wondered Ricky Navarro, an employee of the local government.

The hostilities between NGOS favoring environmental protection and investors that seek to extract mineral deposits are far from over. Colobong said a big time cement company has applied for a mineral production sharing agreements (MPSA) with the DENR to quarry limestone and silica through open-pit mining system.

The same company was given a one-year small-scale mining contract years ago and left several deep craters in the quarry area "so why give it a chance to destroy our town further? Colobong said.

A former town official also applied for a permit to mine manganese but this was opposed by the villagers.

Despite the slow development in the town, Colobong said those who opposed to the cement plant "have no regrets."

"We would have lost our only source of potable water. We would have lost our source of fish. Most of our barangays (quarry sites) would have been left with gaping holes," she stated.

Both Bolinao and Agno residents have learned that caring for the environment gives even ordinary people the courage to slay the giants – the international companies that seek to take advantage of the natural resources.

a shorter version of this story has appeared in the philippine daily inquirer