Islanders for a Day: Island Living at Bolobadiangan Is., Concepcion, Iloilo

Part 2/3: Killing Time in Concepcion

I had three hours to spare before the boatmen picked me up at 4pm, so after I ate lunch with Ricky, Concepcion’s Tourism Office Staff, I walked around town with him as my guide.

Concepcion is approximately two and a half hours away from Iloilo City if you take HPQ bus. You can find it at Tagbak Terminal in Jaro District. HPQ bus is the only one that plies the Iloilo City-Concepcion route. Fare is P120. But if you want to get there thirty minutes earlier, you can ride an HPQ van found also in the terminal. Travel time is approximately two hours.

According to its official website, Concepcion is a 4^th class municipality in the northern part of Iloilo province. It is composed of 16 islands, 11 of which are island barangay. Fishing is the primary source of livelihood, subsistence farming the second. Tourism may very well be the next big income generating industry for the municipality although the tourism officers I talked with admitted that they were still not ready for tourists. Although there are already available inns at the town proper (Jun Bee, for one), there are almost none in the islands for tourists, except for the Sandbar Island Resort at Bolobadiangan Island. Island transfers still need to be organized because at present if one needs a pump boat, Ricky has to text them. Problem is, sometimes the boatmen can’t receive the text messages on time because there’s no signal in their island.

On the other side of the port, fishermen help 'park' a boat ashore

Ricky and I first went to the fish port, which also serves as a dock for passenger boats carrying people plying between their homes in one of Concepcion’s 16 islands and the mainland where the town proper is. I noticed though that there were many smaller boats docked in the fish port. Ricky told me they are privately owned by fish buyers who in turn sell it in their barangay. 

Small boats owned by fish buyers from other islands docked at the port

It was my first time to be in a fish port so I was not aware on how business is done there. The process is like this: the fishermen go out to the sea, catch fish, then go back to the port. They then bring their catch to a fish broker stationed in the port. The fish broker will be the one to set the price for the fish caught. Pricing is arbitrary. When I asked Ricky where the brokers base the price, he said they just know it. The selling price includes the broker’s commission and the fisherman’s pay. Now, the fish buyers from other barangay, including those from the islands, can only buy fish through a broker--they cannot buy directly from a fisherman even though that would mean buying fish at way, way cheaper price.

Why? I asked Ricky.

He said it’s just the way it is.

What does the municipality do about it?

That’s the way it is, he said.

A fish broker

Negotiations between sellers and buyers of fish

Fishermen, brokers and buyers gather at the port for the afternoon catch

After the fish is bought, it is repacked ready to be sold to people in other barangay

So you see, the system allows the fishermen to be exploited. Not only that. People who will buy from the buyers will now have to pay more for the fish. “That’s the way it is.”

I don’t know if Concepcion’s case is the same as with other fish ports, but after I learned about these, I could not help but feel sorry for the fisher folks--they get the least amount of money but they get to do all the work. Their take-home pay is only enough to buy food for their family for a day. Ricky told me that sometimes, the fishermen in the islands exchange their catch for rice or meat or vegetables with the other villagers. The brokers, however, get the biggest chunk of money from it with only their saliva as capital. Ricky told me that these fish brokers have become well-off because of their trade.

We then went to the town’s polytechnic college a few meters away from the fish port. It is called the Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College, where Ricky finished college. It’s a relatively small campus but probably enough for a small town like Concepcion. Like most state colleges, government neglect is apparent in its dilapidated classrooms. There are two main buildings, a breeding facility, an open field, and a viewing deck overlooking the Visayan Sea dotted with islands. It was simply magnificent! The view was just breathtaking.

The School in Town

As seen from the viewing deck 

From the viewing deck, we can see Pan De Azucar, where Mt. Manaphag is located. According to Ricky, its summit can be reached within three hours--that is if the one who will climb its steep slopes is an experienced mountain climber (I bet it will take me double that time to reach the top). Rolling hills in the middle of the sea, an illusion formed by the other islands (oh memory, why do you make me forget their names?), can also be seen.

We spent a lot of time in the viewing deck discussing the future of Concepcion as a tourism hotspot, the illegal commercial fishing that affects their fishermen, and environmental issues it faces. Ricky also lamented on the lack of experts on Fisheries in their town. He said that most students in their town take up computer-related courses because of the demand in the market; however, what is needed in their hometown are courses in environmental science or fisheries.

It used to be that the polytechnic college offers a course in Fisheries, but now it specialized in Education. If a student wants to study Fisheries, he or she has to enroll either in UP Visayas (in Miag-ao), which specialized in it, or in another university (blame my unreliable memory) in the city.

Problem is, there are only few students who take the UPCAT and could afford studying far from home. I told him about the AAP (Affirmative Action Program) of UPLB Pahinungod wherein volunteers are sent to underserved communities to conduct lectures in subjects covered in college entrance exams. Maybe we can conduct one in Concepcion, I told him. He seemed interested although I saw a hint of hesitation after I told him that the LGU or another funding agency should sponsor the expenses of the volunteers.

Ricky Galvan, Municipal Tourism and Environment Officer.
He's also into hand painting souvenir t-shirts like the one he's wearing.

I understood his hesitation given the little budget Concepcion has. Ricky mentioned that in safeguarding their waters from illegal commercial fishing boats alone, the budget is limited. So I told him again about the rich potential of tourism for their town’s income.

When I started my trip, my problem was where to go. It was selfish, as a friend told me, given the problems of the world. It turned out that my selfish wants would lead me to understanding the problems of the world.