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Resort in Bolinao fosters sustainable tourism, permaculture

Punta Riviera Resort in Bolinao, Pangasinan was recognized as the "Most Sustainable and Liveable Resort in the Philippines" in 2022. Its owner, Dr. Ian McFeat Smith shares their sustainable practices in the resort which include clean energy and nature conservation.

VIDEO AND INTERVIEW BY EZRAH RAYA

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Transcript
00:00 I'm Ezra Raya and this is the Manila Times. As a country consistently affected by extreme weather
00:06 events, the Philippines has started to adapt to mitigate the effects of climate change
00:12 on its people and its economy. Sustainable living practices not only help reduce pollution
00:18 but also conserve natural resources. One tourism center in Ilocos region was awarded
00:24 the most sustainable and livable resort in the Philippines. A Scottish engineer along with his
00:30 Ilocano wife developed the resort in 2005, adapting a sustainable productive system
00:37 that provide human needs while integrating the land with the people. Today we have the
00:43 owner of Punta Riviera, a sustainable resort in Bolinao, Pangasinan, Dr. Ian McPheat Smith.
00:50 Welcome to the Manila Times, sir. Thank you. Sir, so you manage the resort with your wife,
00:58 Ma'am Emeline Respicio. So tell us how you implemented permaculture in Punta Riviera
01:04 Del Mar resort in Bolinao, Pangasinan and tell us how it started and where it is now.
01:10 Well, we decided to build a house. That was our main objective and we looked all over
01:19 on the beach. So we looked all over Luzon in particular. My wife comes from Ilocos Norte
01:26 but it's a long distance away from Manila so traveling time is an issue.
01:32 And we eventually settled at Bolinao in Pangasinan because it's a natural beauty spot
01:43 and a rapid, I should say now it's a, this was in the year 2000, it's now a rapidly developing
01:50 tourist zone. We settled at this particular resort because it's at an estuary where the Ilag
02:00 Molino meets the western Filipino sea and the estuary was a white sand beach area and it's
02:09 just simply beautiful. So when we started building the resort, I was on plan B, my wife is already on
02:20 plan 6G, so we didn't start building the resort. We started building a home, did the site formation
02:29 and then we realized that the resort had, that the area, the site had a lot of potential.
02:36 It was only 6,000 square meters at the time but we bought up adjacent land and it's now 23,000
02:43 square meters. It's a farmer coconut plantation which gives it a canopy and of course food,
02:51 because food is a method of storing energy as well as solar energy and so on. So it's, if you like,
03:02 it's a natural form of permaculture. Permaculture is sustainable design based on natural processes.
03:13 Sustainability has three axioms, namely looking after the environment whilst having economic
03:21 development and social development, if you like, and technology. So basically what we're trying to
03:31 do is when we're making use of the land for people and for resorts, guests and so on, we
03:39 try to minimize or improve on the environmental impact that we're at at this particular stage,
03:49 if you like. So we looked at the site and we started developing it, through my wife's idea,
03:58 as a resort because of its natural beauty and we started building allied businesses.
04:05 So we started with a few small buildings and we later added a school and that's a school of
04:17 tourism to test the standards. We later added, we started farming and we had a lot of local pigs,
04:30 if you like, the black pigs, then we added white pigs. But these are allied businesses and today
04:36 we run a bakery, we run our solar system generating 35 kilowatts of green energy. So these were add-ons
04:46 to what was a house initially, became a resort and became a resort with added businesses,
04:56 if you like. Sir, talk to us about the sustainability of the resort. So you mentioned
05:00 that your source of energy is clean energy and food. You employ organic farming for the food,
05:07 for the whole resort. And water, tell us about water, sir. Water is a good subject. We've got
05:15 three wells, so we sunk three wells and that provided a lot of water and there was no municipal
05:22 water supply at that time. Fortunately, that came along later, so we now have a mixture of well water
05:29 and municipal water. But we nevertheless filter it. We are our own customer, if you like.
05:39 We filter the water and we provide it for containers for our kitchens and for our rooms.
05:46 And we also make ice. So that way we know this is to international standards. So that way we know
05:56 our water, our drinking water, I should say. Sorry, the municipal water and the well water is still
06:03 used for watering plants, for washing cars, for all sorts of other purposes. But we know that our
06:12 drinking water and our ice are to international standards and quite safe. So that's a very
06:18 important issue for us. But the municipal water is supplemented by our own water taken from the site.
06:26 Sir, talk to us about Punta's permaculture model. So this is very interesting because within this
06:31 model, there's power water waste management as well as organic farming, ecological culture,
06:38 and as well as educational institution for tourism. So tell us about Punta's permaculture model.
06:48 We have a basic core business and our core business is in tourism. And we're, if you like,
06:58 a riverside seaside resort, a riverside resort. This links into preservation of our environment.
07:07 On one side of our bridge, one side of the river, we have tourism and space for tourism practices.
07:15 On the other side, we have the natural environment preserved with our mangroves, preserved by the
07:21 fact that there's no buildings or toilets on that side of the river. And that works well. And the
07:27 natural ecology of the area is really good. Then we have our school of tourism. I should point out,
07:41 by the way, that when 2010, that when the Kabbalik Act for Pangasinan, then that links in, of course,
07:50 to organic farming. Organic farming has suffered recently from swine flu and a number of other
07:57 things. So moving on, we have our water power waste management, which is to DE and our standards,
08:06 which are quite high, sufficiently high, which links into our permaculture naturally,
08:12 which is sustainable design. But all of that is, if you like, the main benefactor of all of that
08:22 is the local community. They benefit in a number of ways through charities, through
08:31 our support. Well, first of all, we employ locals substantially. We buy the products. We
08:44 run Christmas parties. We run the charities and so on, as I said. So the model is unusual.
08:52 And I'm familiar with the higher level of requirements from permaculture, not quite so
08:59 easy to achieve. But we're working on it and we're constantly testing it.
09:05 So talk to us about organic farming within your resort.
09:10 We've had some success and some failure. The wild boar pigs breeded very well and we got up to 66
09:22 pigs at one time and 60 white pigs. But during Covid, we were hit with a double whammy, back
09:31 from Covid, we were hit with swine flu. And the pigs were then located over the road, off site,
09:42 at that time. Nevertheless, all the black pigs died immediately and the white pigs we sold,
09:53 but we were left with 14, which died. So all of those were burned. So that wasn't so successful.
10:02 We also had a system of using fish to feed plants, plants to feed fish. That worked well.
10:15 But we had a mechanical engineer working this, testing acid levels, using the pump and so on.
10:22 Everything worked fine until we changed and used a farmer. And the farmer couldn't get used to the
10:30 system involved. Basically, the system failed. So we're used to failure as well as and we learn
10:39 from failure. You learn better from failure than from success in some ways. We grow today,
10:46 apart from our coconuts, we are growing, we have a lot of landscaping. We're growing dragon fruit,
10:55 which took successfully. We're on our second generation of dragon fruit and hopefully they'll
11:02 come up. So there's a variety of fruits and things like that that we're growing.
11:10 But we are ultimately our core business isn't about farming. It's about, oh, sorry,
11:19 the other thing I should have mentioned is we produce fertilizer, organic fertilizer, two ways.
11:28 One is using seaweed and we're basically drying out the seaweed in tanks and then we tap it off
11:38 at the bottom. So we get a good fertilizer from that. The other is burning rice hull.
11:44 And you make a crispy toast out of that. And that is added to other ingredients to give us
11:51 an organic fertilizer. From what I understood, sir, within your resort, you will implement
11:58 this sort of circular economy. So the circular sustainable economy where you have this clean
12:04 energy from all of your solar panels and all the food waste and all of the kitchen waste,
12:08 as well as the manure to make organic fertilizers, which is then used to all of your plants. And
12:16 that's where you get your food from. So it's quite sustainable what you've implemented in the resort.
12:21 Now, I understand aside from sustainability, you also place importance on your employees,
12:27 physical and mental health. So how do you take care of your workers in Punta Pica Vieira?
12:32 Very good, very good point. In a wide variety of ways. Number one, we provide for the living
12:39 staff, we provide accommodation and we provide meals for all staff during shift times.
12:48 Essentially, they're maintained in well-maintained, sorry, they live in
12:58 well-maintained farmland cabanas. Our senior staff are in rooms in the resort and support
13:06 is available for staff and families for medical and accident purposes. I should also say, by the
13:14 way, that we've just about two weeks ago, we just had training for seven members of staff to be
13:23 officers. This helps them become safety officers and so on. Training for Red Cross, Basic Life and
13:35 CPR. We were this week to the Department of Tourism, we're organizing the WASAR, that's the
13:48 another foundation course for lifeguard duties and then hopefully before the end of the year,
13:55 we'll be doing the lifeguard training. So training is an important part. Training also takes place
14:01 at our school and our school is doing basic front desk, room services, commercial cooking and so on.
14:15 They run courses like that, so they get training there. So that's an important part.
14:20 Staff have participated in team building activities or they do that last week, for example,
14:29 they were providing marshals and facilitators for our team building courses.
14:36 We have three obstacle courses and the staff participate in that and they get bonuses
14:44 once they, when they get groups. So that's part of it. The other thing is we give incentive bonuses,
14:53 but we have parties for the staff to participate and dress up in and fancy dress and so on.
14:59 During the year, they also participate, sorry, and also the Christmas party. Everybody in the
15:11 resort takes part of that and we have up to 800 local kids coming along for a massive Christmas
15:18 party. That's from the local villages and so on. Everybody gets into that. So there's a lot of that
15:25 recognition of people's birthdays and so on, which is a big Filipino thing, isn't it?
15:31 - It's very standard, you know, all workplace, office Christmas party performances and such.
15:37 So let me ask you on another concern. Does the current dispute in the West Philippine Sea
15:43 concern you, between China and the Philippines? - Good question. And am I concerned about it?
15:49 Well, the answer is I've lived in Hong Kong since '78 until roughly COVID. The resort was
15:57 developing partly when I was in Hong Kong through my wife's energy, huge amount of energy and some
16:04 of my family members. Am I concerned about it? I'm as concerned as I was back in 1978.
16:12 And there's been a lot of water under the bridge since then. I'm concerned about escalation,
16:21 but escalation can come from both sides. In fact, it has to come from both sides to escalate.
16:29 So I am concerned, yes. As a resort owner, do I want to see something happening there? Of course
16:40 not. Fundamentally, I don't believe it's as big a threat as certain nationalities would make out.
16:51 However, my fingers are crossed. - So going back to our discussion earlier,
16:57 what is your advice to other resort owners who want to be sustainable, who wants to adapt
17:02 our permaculture as well? - Well, there's always scope for
17:06 building your resort. But the issue is partly, have you built your resort? Or are you going to
17:15 build your resort? If you're going to build your resort, you have to be there early to get prime
17:22 sites. Therefore, you have to go to an area that's not entirely developed. So that's about location,
17:29 location, location, right? You have to be there early. Next thing is, if you're designing the
17:37 shape of your buildings, what we did was we left an open seafront. Okay? Now that gives
17:47 our guests a view over our infinity pool, over the lagoon, over the sandbank, and out to the
17:53 South China Sea. And it's raised by two meters. So there's view, not building, not covering your
18:00 seafront as every other resort around us seem to do. But it also encourages incoming sea breezes.
18:11 And those sea breezes cool our lanai-like main restaurant, our garden restaurant, our pavilion,
18:19 and give us natural ventilation. If you've already built your resort, it's very difficult
18:26 to incorporate these. We have also put balcony accesses outside, so we don't need to permanently
18:33 air condition them or ventilate them. Okay? Now, if you want to add on bakery, so if you want to
18:41 add on businesses to your core business, the bakery is one. And it's a good thing because you
18:48 are your own client, like the water. You are serving yourself and you're guaranteeing customers.
18:56 And then you sell some outside. Same with the water. So there are many things to do.
19:04 If you're already built, then it's as add-ons. But if you're about to start building a resort
19:13 to looking for a site and so on, you need to look at sustainability. But compliance,
19:20 according to DENR, for wastewater supply, sorry, for wastewater discharge, for noise permits,
19:29 these are all very important aspects. All the laws of the Philippines are fine. They're actually at
19:36 a very high level. They're often, sometimes they're not enforced. So enforcement is now
19:45 coming very strong. So I believe that all the laws are there. Now, how does this help other
19:53 resort owners adopt sustainability? Well, ultimately, it's very simple. It's for their
20:04 own good and for the good of the guests and the good of the neighbors. So if you want to be a good
20:09 neighbor, if you want to be a good host, if you want to look to the future, then you need, and you
20:18 want, another big issue is safety measures. Safety, safety, safety. You have to have nowadays,
20:27 according to DOLI, you have to have lifeguards if you're on the coastline. Very important.
20:38 Training, training, training is everything. Thank you so much for those insights on
20:45 sustainability and permaculture. Thank you, Punta Riviera Resort owner, Dr. Ian McPhee Smith. Thank
20:55 you so much for your time. So what I would like to say is, Mabuhay, thank you very much indeed,
21:02 Ezra. And to any potential guests, we would welcome you. If there's people looking for support
21:11 on developing sustainable resorts, including resort owners, including groups of people,
21:17 we would be delighted to host them at Punta Riviera Resort at Boulanar in Pangasinan.
21:25 We would particularly extend that welcome to yourself if you'd like to. In trying, in achieving
21:35 this resort as the most sustainable and livable resort in the Philippines, I have to be humble a
21:43 bit because we're the first resort to do this, to achieve this resort. I'm sure there'll be another
21:49 one this year, but it's a big mountain to climb, right? We didn't set out to build a resort to win
22:02 an award. It reflects on what we are. We've had both successes and failures and we learn from the
22:10 failures. I've related some of those failures to you today. I hope I've related some of the
22:16 successes as well. Thank you very much. Mabuhay.
22:20 [Music]