You Are From Marinduque, You Must be Rich!

Marinduque Sunset

You are from Marinduque, So,You Must be Rich!

This is a statement from my new Filipino-American mailman. I was surprise of his statement and ask why he has that impression. Well, you have the copper, gold and iron mines don't you? When I told him the mines had been closed for a while, he replied, I did not know that.

Latest Mining News :On 26 July, 2010, the provincial board of the Marinduque approved a resolution reiterating the declaration of a 50-year large scale mining moratorium issued in the year 2005, 'so as to avoid further impairment and damage' to their 'affluent island province'.

So, I ask him where did he grew up in the Philippines and when did he immigrated to US. He said he grew up in the Manila area and has been in US since 1985.

Evidently, there is a lot of misinformation about Marinduque even from Filipino-Americans here in US. This is only not true here in the Sacramento area, but also in Chicago, Kansas City, Washington, DC, but most of all here in Northern California. The above places I have listed are places where we have resided since 1960. A lot of these Filipino- Americans, professionals or non-professionals only have a vague idea of where Marinduque is located in the Philippines. Some think it is a Visayan province. Only a few know that it is a southern Tagalog province. Most non-Filipinos confused it with the eastern Carribean island of Martinique.

One of the reasons why Marinduque is not known to most Filipino-Americans here in US is the lack of publicity and information about Marinduque in the Internet. Even the provincial website was just recently activated and had not been operational for quite a while. Today, there are only a few web sites, mostly personal and travel blogs describing the beauty of the island. I am doing my best in promoting tourism to Marinduque with my nine blogs about the beauty of our island. Recently, I received the following e-mail from Mr Ricamonte of ABS-CBN. This will indeed promote travel to Marinduque once the project is completed.

Hi David,

"I'm Erwin Ricamonte of ABS-CBN Global The Filipino Channel, Currently we are producing TFC Connect, a five minute program that gives an update about the Philippines for the subscribers worldwide. I would like to ask for your help if you have contact with the Marinduque Province such as the Tourism Department. I read an article about Marinduque and I saw your email address.

We would like to feature the Marinduque as of the best tourist destination for our kababayan abroad. I'm looking for your favorable response. Thank you very much".

ERWIN RICAMONTE
Interstitial Production and Program Development
Integrated Global Content
415.2272 local 4471
0917.3080421 / 0928.9575281

I immediately forwarded the e-mail to two of my contacts in Marinduque- Mr Eli Obligacion( blogger and writer) and Mr. Jerry Jamilla(provincial tourism officer).I am not sure if they had made contact with Mr.Ricamonte. I hope that this TV project has been completed by now. It will certainly help in enticing Filipino-Americans to visit Marinduque.

So if you are from Marinduque, help me achieve my goals of making Marinduque a tourist attraction not only during Easter but also whole year round by supporting my websites.

Related News: In yesterday's meeting of the provincial board of the province of Marinduque, the 50 year ban on mining in Marinduque has been upheld/renewed. Are you in favor of mining in Marinduque or not?