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Valuing the Beachscape Beauty of Caramoan, the Philippines: Towards Establishing A User Fee System for Sustainable Ecotourism and Coastal Resource Management

Raul G. Bradecina (Partido State University) Asa Jose U. Sajise (University of the Philippines Los Banos) Teruyuki Shinbo (Kochi University)

フィリピン・カラモアン地域における沿岸環境の価値評価： 持続可能なエコツーリズムと沿岸資源管理のための利用料金システム

ラウル・ギガ・ブラデシナ（パルティド州立大学） アサ・ホセ・U・サヒセ（フィリピン大学ロスバニョス校） 新保輝幸（高知大学）

本研究では，フィリピン・カラモアン地域の沿 半数が海岸景観の保全への支払いに同意し，提示 岸景観保全に向けた WTP を推定するために CVM 額を拒否した者の約 7 割が抵抗回答であった．抵 を適用した．まず回答者は多くが教育を受けた若 抗回答を除き不確かな回答を調整した推計では， い世代で比較的裕福な階層であった．また沿岸へ 平均 WTP は年額 1,147 ペソとなった．この高い のゴミ散逸や汚染，ダイナマイト漁等が沿岸環境 WTP はアクセスが悪いため残された原生的な自 の保全における主要な管理問題となっているが， 然に起因すると考えられる．集計 WTP は年額 保全へ向けた管理権限の設定や，沿岸保全や漁業 13,764,000 ペソであった．今後，沿岸資源管理の 関連の法規制に対する住民の認知が観光の持続可 全体的な開発計画に基づいた利用料金の徴収シス 能性に効果的と認識されていた．回答者のおよそ テムについて検討が急がれる．

1. Introduction spans two governing institutions in the area under differ- Caramoan, Philippines is a town endowed with nature’s ent institutional arrangements that create an institutional beauty preserved by its seclusion. The primary attraction dilemma as to their overall management. The manage- of the area is the scenic view of the beachscapes which is ment of beachscapes within the protected area is placed defined by unique geologic configurations, white sands and under the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) by clear waters. Its beauty is further boosted by unexplored virtue of the NIPAS in partnership with the provincial lakelets, subterranean passages and caves in small lime- government, while management of the beachscapes out- stone islands (Escandor, 2010). Caramoan is remotely situ- side the protected area, is placed under the municipal gov- ated at the southernmost tip of Luzon Island and at the ernment by virtue of the Local Government Code (LGC). eastern portion of Camarines Sur Province. It is 501 km The open-access nature of coastal areas, lack of employ- from the capital city of Metro Manila (Figure 1). ment opportunities and institutional weakness compound- Within Caramoan is a Natural Protected Area estab- ed the impacts of threats to coastal and upland ecosystems lished under the National Integrated Protected Area in Caramoan. Dynamite fishing, mangrove cutting and System Law (NIPAS). It is considered as one of the key small-scale beach sand quarrying resulted in reduced coral biodiversity areas (KBA) in the country and supports cover, decline of fish population and siltation in some areas various ecosystems including lowland forest, mangrove (Pelea et al., 2005). Selective logging, slash and burn and coral reef. The contiguous nature of the beachscapes farming and cutting of trees for domestic use reduced the

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conservation, willingness to pay for conservation and socio- economic status. The brochure consisted of information on the status of the beachscapes, its threats, description of worst scenario, recent initiatives by the municipality to address the threats, and the hypothetical trust fund and fee collection mechanism for conservation. After reminding the respondents of their personal income constraints in giv- ing answers, the valuation question was posed as follows: “Let me take you back to the time that you were thinking Figure 1. L ocation of the study area in the of going to Caramoan. Would you have come if you knew Philippines that there was a PhP ____ entrance fee?; and that this fee population of some endemic birds and reptiles in the were to be managed by the Municipal Government and the upland areas (Bird Life International, 2010). Tourism Management Council and used solely for the pur- Four years ago, Caramoan was unknown in the tourism pose of protecting the beachscapes’ beauty and ecosystem? communities. It generated local and international media _ Yes (Go to No.2 & 3) _ No (Go to No. 4) attention when the international series of the hit reality Response certainty questions as well as reasons for show “Survivor” was alternately filmed by French, Israel unwillingness to pay were incorporated into the question- and Bulgarian televisions in the area from 2008 until last naire in consideration of some socio-cultural context in year (Aguilar, 2010). Since then, local and foreign travelers the area such as lack of experience in answering CVM started to explore its beaches. The influx of tourism in the surveys by local respondents and scenario rejection which future could further undermine the beachscapes’ aesthetic could cause bias. quality and ecosystems. The response certainty question as presented below, The government institutions in Caramoan are starting clarifies how certain respondents are about their positive to seriously consider the management and conservation of WTP answers (Loomis and Ekstrand, 1998) as cited by the beachscapes as main ecotourism assets. However, a Endab (2007). Reasons for willingness to pay were provid- sustainable source of funding for the purpose is a major ed in question number 3: constraint. This study estimated the willingness to pay for “If you answered yes, how certain are you that you would the conservation of beachscape beauty of Caramoan as pay? Please indicate the degree of certainty: input in establishing user fee system for sustainable ecot- ___ Very unsure ourism and coastal resource management. ____ Not sure ____ Sure 2. Methods ____ Very sure Preliminary activities included exploratory visit, key Reasons for unwillingness to pay were provided in informant interviews and training of enumerators. A question number 4 to check off the respondents’ motive pre-test of the questionnaire and the contingent scenario behind a negative response. Four of these reasons such as: brochure with simple photos was conducted to 50 respon- “Only the fishers and resort owners who benefits should dents using bid amounts of PhP 100, 250, 500, 750 and pay”; “Only the rich should pay”; “Majority of the poor 1000. A final survey was conducted using final bid amounts will be affected; and “I do not believe that the money I pay of PhP 100, PhP 450, PhP 950, PhP 1250 and PhP 1800. will be used for conservation” were considered as “protest The sample respondents were directly assigned to the bid votes”. Some researchers consider protest votes as non- amounts. The respondents in the study were the local zero value response and need not be included in further tourists who have stayed for a day in Caramoan and are analysis (Loomis et al., 1994) as cited by Subade (2005). earning income. A total of 1,000 respondents were inter- Others insist to include protest zero bids as true zero bids viewed between January and April, 2010 using drop-off and (Halstead et al. 1992). face-to-face intercept strategies. Four data sets were generated namely: uncensored The questionnaire consisted of respondents’ perceptions response, certainty response-adjusted; protest response- on local coastal environment and governance, attitude on adjusted; and combined certainty-adjusted and protest

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response-adjusted. Overall, four models were considered Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics of in the analysis using STATA. Model 1 deals with the the respondents uncensored response data set whereby “no” responses were considered as legitimate zero valuation. Model 2 Parameters n % deals with the certainty-adjusted response data set where- Gender in uncertain yes responses were recoded to zero. Model 3 Male 467 47.0 Female 533 53.0 deals with the protest-adjusted response data set whereby Civil Status the “no” responses with “protest votes” were censored. Single 589 59.0 Model 4, considered as the preferred model, deals with Married 394 39.0 Widow/er 17 2.0 combined certainty and protest response adjusted data Educational Attainment sets. Observations with monthly income of PhP 2,000 and Elementary level 0 0.0 below, as well PhP 400,000 and above were deemed unre- Elementary Graduate 0 0.0 3 0 3 alistic and considered outliers. A total of 25 observations High School Level . High School Graduate 11 1.1 were outliers and not included in the logit analysis. College Level 84 8.4 Incorporating certainty and censoring protest response Vocational Level 19 1.9 can address cultural context strategic behaviors that often College Graduate 760 76.0 Graduate 123 12.3 result to fat-tail problem. The common occurrence of fat- tail problem associated with open-ended, stated preference CV has been discussed in literatures (Whittington, et al. Table 2. Rank of local coastal environment and 2000; Subade and Jugado, 2010). This study also tested environment governance issues known such occurrence. to respondents

Number 3. Results and Discussion Environmental and of responses Weighted [1] Socioeconomic Characteristics of the Respondents Rank Governance Issues by rank Mean The socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents 1 2 3 are shown in Table 1. On the average, the respondents’ age is 33.4 years old and has monthly income of PhP Cyanide fishing 0 57 63 2.525 11 Compressor fishing 6 20 12 2.158 5 26,319. These indicate that the average visitors in Siltation 7 9 12 2.179 6 Caramoan are young, highly educated and moderately Blast fishing 56 56 56 2.000 2 affluent. In 2007, Filipino families with monthly income Sand quarrying 54 77 58 2.021 3 Littering on the beach 456 187 153 1.619 1 ranging from PhP 20,920 to PhP 170,440 are considered Small scale mining 14 46 49 2.321 10 middle class. Considered poor are families with monthly Overcrowding of income below PhP 6,105 which is the country’s poverty tourists 34 86 96 2.287 8 threshold (Devpulse, 2008). Unregulated fishing 36 74 86 2.255 7 Unplanned, [2] Awareness of Local Coastal and Environment proliferation of Governance Issues houses, resorts, The respondents’ awareness of local coastal and envi- infrastructure 147 286 243 2.142 4 ronmental governance issues presented in Table 2 indicat- Cutting of mangroves, ed the area’s weakness on solid waste management as vegetation 70 99 168 2.291 9 well as the presence of unsustainable economic activities that exert pressure on the tourism assets. Note that ment for beachscape tourism and management are highly “rank” means the order of importance of an issue that was considered by the respondents to impact the long term evaluated from weighted mean. sustainability of the beachscapes in Caramoan (Table 3). [3] Perceived Institutional and Management Issues [4] Attitude towards Conservation of Beachscapes Impacting Beachscapes Sustainability Majority of the respondents (98%) expressed positive The issues concerning sustainable source of fund for attitude for the conservation of beachscapes. There is not conservation, political and harmonized institutional arrange- much wide difference in the dominant percentage of positive

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Table 3. R ank of institutional and management Table 4. Reasons why respondents are willing issues perceived by respondents to or unwilling to pay impact sustainability of beachscapes Reasons n %

Number of Willing To Pay Institutional and responses Weighted It will improve law enforcement 13 3 by rank Rank Management Issues Mean It will lessen the threats to coral reefs, 1 2 3 mangrove and seagrass beds 64 13 It will provide livelihood 31 6 Sustainable source of It will promote equitable sharing of benefits 34 7 fund for conservation 264 102 117 1.696 1 It will provide steady source of fund for Enforcement of management 95 19 environment and fisheries related laws 97 164 94 1.992 4 It will sustain the good quality of water 19 4 Institutional It will maintain the cleanliness of fine white frameworks for sand 55 11 ecosystem It will promote sustainable use of beachscape 183 37 governance 42 77 107 2.288 9 Total 494 100 Geographic and Unwilling To Pay political jurisdictions I do not think conservation of beachscape between local and beauty is necessary 5 1 provincial I cannot afford to pay for the program 129 25 governments 56 105 68 2.052 5 I prefer to give money to humanitarian cause 119 44 54 1 700 2 Political issues . instead 6 1 Harmonized Only the fishers and resort owners who institutional directly benefit from its beaches should pay 83 16 arrangement and Only the rich should pay for this 25 5 mechanisms for 62 12 beachscape tourism Majority of the poor will be affected management 118 110 107 1.967 3 I do not believe that the money I will pay will Comprehensive be used for the conservation of beachscape 196 39 management plan for beauty ecotourism and Total 506 100 conservation of beachscape 163 194 192 2.053 6 correlated with WTP throughout the four CVM models Awareness for (Table 5). Attitude towards conservation was significant conservation 59 138 154 2.271 8 and positively correlated with WTP only in Uncorrected Technical capability for management 78 62 102 2.099 7 and Certainty-adjusted models. The negative vectors of bid amount and age and the responses in all bids, although it was not tested statistically. positive vector of income are consistent with the study [5] Proportion of Respondents Willing and Unwilling hypothesis. The negative correlation of bid amount to WTP to Pay for Conservation of Beachscapes implies that the probability of the respondents’ willingness There is almost equal proportion on the respondents that to pay for the conservation decreases as bid amount in- expressed unwillingness (50.6%) and willingness (49.4%). creases. The negative correlation of age to WTP indicates [6] Reasons for Willingness and Unwillingness to that younger respondents are more likely willing to pay. Pay for Conservation of Beachscapes This is an a priori expectation since environment conserva- Promoting the sustainability of the beachscapes topped tion is an investment in the future; younger people who the respondents’ motivation for willingness to pay. On the expect to enjoy such investment for longer period are more other hand, mistrust on the proper use of the money paid likely to pay. The positive correlation of income to WTP for conservation are among the relevant considerations indicates that respondents with higher income are more that underlie the protest votes (Table 4). likely willing to pay. High-income respondents put premium [7] Parametric Logistic Regressions on environmental improvements compared with their The bid amount, age, and income were significantly lower-income counterparts (Seenprachawong, 2001).

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[8] Parametric and Non-Parametric Mean WTP associated with the survey design wherein higher income The parametric mean WTP under the Combined certain- respondents were not covered when the pre-test was ty-adjusted and protest-adjusted model was PhP 1,147. This conducted. The conduct of the pre-test coincided with the estimate is considerably higher than the WTP values in rainy month of December which probably prevented the similar studies in the Philippines which range between PhP relatively affluent respondents in farther yet progressive 49 and 545 per visit (Padilla et al., 2005). If the time value of regions like Metro Manila, from visiting the area because money will be factored in, the estimated WTP closely of weather constraints. approximates the value generated by Subade (2005) for Tubbataha Reef Marine Park seascapes five years ago. The 4. Conclusions and Recommendations secluded and the pristine nature of the site probably The higher WTP for Caramoan beachscapes is common explained for the higher WTP. The WTP estimates for the for newly established ecotourism destinations that feature rest of the models did not deviate much: Protest-adjusted exclusivity and pristine nature. The negative correlation model was slightly higher; while the Uncensored and the of age to WTP suggests that tourism should be packaged Certainty-adjusted models yielded relatively lower WTP targeting young and adventurous visitors. estimates. A similar trend and a closer estimate were Consistent with rational choice behavior, majority of the derived for both the non-parametric WTP mean and median respondents expressed positive attitude for beachscape values implying its robustness (Table 6). The probability curves of the models shown in Figure 2 Table 6. Parametric and Non-Parametric Mean did not reach zero. This could be credited to an oversight WTP estimates for the different models

Table 5. Significant variables affecting WTP Parametric Non-Parametric No. of Model Obs. Std. Model Model Model Model Mean Mean Median Dev 1 2 3 4 1 (Uncensored) 975 897 294 873 683 Variables Protest+ Certainty Protest 2 (Certainty- Uncensored Certainty 975 563 280 673 379 -adjusted -adjusted adjusted adjusted) 3 (Protest- Constant .8467532 .0814624 5.440678 2.542522 621 1,708 249 1,332 — adjusted) .0015613 .0016287 .0017068 .0014496 Bid 4 (Certainty+ (0.000)** (0.000)** (0.000)** (0.000)** 621 1,147 271 1,006 976 Protest adjusted) .039265 .0461732 .2093317 .1323797 Gender (0.784) (0.754) (0.335) (0.470) .0412971 .0433655 .0383502 .0370107 Age (0.000)** (0.000)** (0.003)** (0.001)** .0412971 0.16748 .0263536 .0451128 Civil Status (0.801) (0.922) (0.911) (0.829) .0112675 .0673712 .1020533 .0286563 Education (0.849) (0.276) (0.223) (0.698) 8.15e-07 7.90e-07 7.42e-07 6.91e-07 Income (0.006)** (0.007)** (0.087)** (0.053)** Attitude 1.470745 1.212579 .1179345 .3032096 Towards (0.005)** (0.025)** (0.916) (0.064) Conservation

No. of 975 975 621 621 observations LR 188.56 192.84 106.98 107.58 Chi-square Prob> 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 Chi square Pseudo R 0.1395 0.1484 0.1620 0.1290 square Figure 2. P robability curve of saying“ Yes” to given ** significant at p.(z) 5% level, values in parenthesis are p-values amounts

（ 94 ） 個別報告論文 〔 95 〕 conservation, but when confronted with hypothetical obli- ［3］ Endab, A., “Willingness to pay for whale shark gation for paying conservation fees, only one half ex- conservation in Sorsogon,” Research Report: The pressed willingness to pay. The awakening for environ- Economy and Environment Program for Southeast mental concern among young and educated inspired by Asia (EEPSEA), Singapore, 2007. ［4］ the aggressive climate change adaptation campaign in the Escandor, S., “Caramoan continues to draw ‘ survivor’ to Camarines Sur,” http://www.caramoan. Philippines explained for the higher proportion of conser- com/, 2010. vation-oriented respondents. The decision of the signifi- ［5］ Halstead, J. M., A. E. Luloff and T. H. Stevens, cant half of those who responded positively for conserva- “Protest bidders in contingent valuation,” tion but were not willing to pay can be attributed to public Northeastern J. Agric. Resource Econ., 21: 160– misgivings about how the conservation fees will be man- 169, 1992. aged by the relevant institutions. This underscores the ［6］ Loomis, J. B. and E. Ekstrand, “Alternative need for stakeholders’ consultation prior to the establish- approaches for incorporating uncertainty when esti- ment of a user fee system in the area using the WTPs mating willingness to pay: The case of Mexican estimated in this study as benchmark. Spotted Owl,” Ecological Economics, 27: 29–40, 1998. The commonality of environmental issues associated ［7］ Devpulse, The shrinking Filipino middle class, 12(1), 15 with lack of employment opportunities, and perceived January , National Economic Development Authority, Philippines, 2008. institutional weaknesses underscores the development of ［8］ Padilla, J. F., A. D. Ansula and M. O. Tolosa, Caramoan tourism in the context of coastal resource Getting users to pay for conservation, a guide to management that promotes participatory governance and site-based sustainable user fee schemes, WWF- livelihood. Philippines, 2005. The aggregate amount of conservation fees that can be ［9］ Pelea, N. R., S. G. Borbe and M. J. Pelea, generated from Caramoan using the selected Certainty and “Socioeconomic status of fisherfolks in Lagonoy Protest-adjusted model’s mean WTP of PhP 1,147 and Gulf,” In Soliman, V. S., R. R. Dioneda, Sr, and N. monthly average of 1,000 tourists in 2008 is estimated at R. Pelea (eds.), Lagonoy Gulf Post-Resource and PhP 13,764,000 per year. The amount clearly exceeds the Socio-economic Assessment, 1–97, 2005. PhP 700,000 annual total cost of tourism management. This ［10］ Seenprachawong, U., “An economic analysis of cor- al reefs in the Andaman Sea of Thailand,” Research will justify public investments for management and conser- Report: The Economy and Environment Program for vation of the beachscapes and coastal resources in Caramoan. Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), Singapore, 2001. Dealing with protest votes and absolutely uncertain yes ［11］ Subade, R. F., “Valuing biodiversity conservation answers as adopted in this study mitigated the potential in a world heritage site: Citizens’ non-use values effects of the cultural contexts inherent in developing for Tubbataha Reefs National Marine Park, country like the Philippines. This study also derived a Philippines,” Research Report: The Economy fat-tail probability curve similar with results generated and Environment Program for Southeast Asia elsewhere (Whittington, 1998). (EEPSEA), Singapore, 2005. ［12］ Subade, R. and E. Jugado, “Economic valuation Acknowledgement of conserving endangered species and their This research was funded by the Environmental habitats in the North Western Panay Peninsula, Central Philippines,” Research Report: The Economy Economics Program for Southeast Asia-UP Los Banos- and Environment Program for Southeast Asia College of Economics and Management (EEPSEA-UPLB- (EEPSEA), Singapore, 2010. CEM). The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science ［13］ Whittington, D., J. Davis, H. Miarsono and R. (JSPS) supported its presentation and publication. Pollard, “Designing‘ neighborhood deal’ for urban Comments and suggestions solicited from Prof. Yoshinori sewers: a case study of Semarang, Indonesia,” Morooka helped a lot in improving the manuscript. Journal of Planning, Education and Research, 19: 297–308, 2000. References ［14］ Whittington, D., “Administering contingent valu- ［1］ Aguilar, E., http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/ ation surveys in developing countries,” World ［2］ Bird Life International, http://www.birdlife.org/ Development, 26(1): 21–30, 1998.

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