Bohol celebrates its 153rd birthday today.

Among her favorite sons to be remembered should be President Carlos P. Garcia and the rebels Dagohoy and Tamblot. And of course, Mr Hospitality himself, the forerunner of Bohol Tourism perhaps - Rajah Sikatuna.

Unlike his combative cousin in Mactan Island named Datu Lapulapu who killed the Spaniard (Portuguese by birth) Ferdinand Magellan for violating territorial turf, our native chieftain Rajah Sikatuna saw "globalization" for what its worth.

Sikatuna embodied what is the noble virtue of hospitality and warmth of Boholanos today as he figuratively laid the red carpet (banana leaves, maybe) for Miguel Lopez de Legaspi to tread on the island and be welcomed.

As we may know, blood has symbolizes the life-sustaining element in mammals.

Mothers bleed to give birth to infants; Christ shed blood in Calvary and Gethsemane for mankind's salvation and the Katipuneros and Magdalo soldiers used blood to show solidarity and passion for a cause.

Rajah Sikatuna did one better. He took a goblet from his priceless collections and drew blood from his and Legaspi's arms and into it - from where they both drank thereof.

That sealed the racial friendship and would have been one for Ripley's or Guinness - only Sikatuna preceded them both in history.

Today, a Sikatuna-Legaspi blood compact site at the Bool district is a tourist must-see. It represents perhaps the pre-destined order of Bohol to be a warm, tourist-focused province going to the 21st century. Further, the highest award for most outstanding Boholanos today is called the Sikatuna Award and the greatest distinction offered to a foreign affairs related landmark achievement is called the Gawad Sikatuna Award.

Wanting to bestow him more honors was to develop a major tourist attraction in Bilar town called the Rajah Sikatuna National Park. Sprawling over 29 barangays of lush vegetation, it could be a clean and cool park - a contemplative's heaven. It speaks of the inviting cool spring water of Logareta Spring nearby.

It could be a perfect setting for trekking, camping and even bird watching - an apt rest and recreation spot for its namesake Rajah Sikatuna, the friendly chieftain whose legendary embrace of unknown Spaniards to our shores is celebrated every year with a festive celebration called Sandugo (last week).

This park used to be a favorite camping site of the Boy and Girl Scouts. Its biggest claim to fame was its few days of national acclamation when Bohol's patroness Bea Zobel of the famous Ayala clan held her "Bibo Bohol" festivity there.

After that event, silence became golden in the park. Today, it looks like an abandoned camping site. There one beholds a swimming pool which if no one swims there - it is not really a swimming pool. A few cottages that can stand a lot of architectural improvement. A butterfly dome that looks more like doomsday for the winged creatures. A cage for monkeys that must be loosely locked because the monkeys are missing. In short, something seems wrong with the doggone place.

The local DENR personnel is manning the office and despite the low entrance fee of P8 for locals and P100 for foreigners, no one seems interested to enter the Park of Gloom - and why should they be indeed? Such a pity because the provincial government spent for the roads leading to that sight, intended to be along the Tourist Highway leading to the grand Chocolate Hills in Carmen. Roads paid by people's money that lead to nowhere apparently.

What is amiss in the Rajah Sikatuna National Park?

The Provincial Tourism Council is looking into reports that the Australian funders of a P10-million grant to develop the park has screeched to a halt. This arose from the apparent tug-of-war between the NGO called Soil and Water Conservation Foundation, Inc. (SWCF) and the DENR who chairs the Protective Area Management board (PAM-B)
It appears that the Australian Funder and SWCF (headed by William Granert) who accepted the initial two tranches of the fund of over P 3-Million is not satisfied with the development of the park specifics as overseen by the DENR.

It is such a pity because, properly managed, the remaining P 7-Million or so of the Australian Fund can really jump-start the sleepy park into a dynamic one.

The PTC is so sold to the national park idea that it had asked the Bohol Association of Hotels, Resorts and Restaurants (BAHRR) and the Bohol Federation of Tour and Travel Operators (BOFETTO) to road-map it so that the idyllic site be made into a veritable new-found gem of Bohol tourism.

Everyone may have to get their acts together on this one - for the sake of Bohol tourism, for one. For another, leaving the park in neglectful abandon is a cardinal sin against someone who had embodied the beauty and strength of true Boholano Hospitality named Rajah Sikatuna. Enough of this desecration.

Let's not tempt him to rise from his grave and give us all a majestic scolding.

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