Virginia ‘Virgie’ Deocareza Negrite, During he growing up years,
my family used to occupy a piece of land within the park for
slash-and burn-farming to augment their income and provide
for daily sustenance. Poverty made life difficult. the dreams to
fulfill he aspiration of becoming a public high school teacher
became so out of reach.
To attain my dreams, I migrated to Metro Manila where I
applied, and was hired, as a factory worker for a year. Then
I worked as a House Help or ‘Kasambahay’ in return for my
schooling. I was enrolled and finished the 1st year of college
for the course of Bachelor in Secondary Education (BSE) in
the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Pasay (PLP), until I faced the
crossroads of my life to choose between financial support
for my family or fulfill my dreams of becoming a teacher. I
sacrificed the latter.
After years of struggle, my whole family bonded together and
decided to contribute for the continuation of my education.
That was the year 2000. Every ounce of contribution for my
education was sourced out from hard labor, from selling tilapia
fished from Bulusan Lake and farmed products harvested
from their clan’s kaingin in BVNP and portions of salaries of
my siblings serving also as household workers in Manila.
As years passed and while I was grappling with poverty,
AGAP Bulusan, Inc., a community-based multi-sectoral
environmental NGO, started to operate ecotourism services
of Bulusan Lake. The BVNP in Bulusan Area is endorsed by
the LGU of Bulusan, the Province of Sorsogon and BVNP
Protected Area Management Board (PAMB). Partnerships
were done with AGAP Bulusan’s Mission to protect and
conserve the biodiversity, as well as to develop ecotourism
products and services.
As a lake fisher, I was one of the beneficiaries trained
as an Eco Guide in 2010 and during these initial
stages started earning money from tourism-related
services.