PRO 7 Says No Untoward Incident in Miss Universe Bets Visit to Oslob Town

The Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 said no untoward incident happened during the visit of some Miss Universe candidates to the southern town of Oslob on Tuesday.

Miss Universe candidates from China, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam visited the town of Oslob Tuesday despite an earlier travel advisory that warned Americans, Canadians and British nationals against traveling to the town, Dalaguete and Santander in southern Cebu.

The candidates went whale-watching, an activity organized by the Tourism department.

PRO 7 Director Noli Taliño has repeatedly declared southern Cebu is safe.

Personnel from the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) and Oslob Police Station, teams from the tourist police unit, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Task Force Cebu, Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Navy have secured the area.

CPPO Director Eric Noble said the activity was “very nice, peaceful, orderly, happy, and exciting.”

But environmental groups earlier urged the candidates to skip the whale shark-watching activity.

Anna Oposa, executive director and co-founder of Save Philippine Seas, urged organizers and candidates, in a statement, not to patronize the unregulated feeding of whale sharks in Oslob due to its effects on the species.

“In the last few years, Oslob has become a controversial tourist destination because the whale sharks are fed dead, frozen shrimp, which disrupts their natural behavior as migratory species. Tourism activities remain unregulated,” Oposa said.

Oposa said that with the pageant being held in the Philippines early next year, Oslob’s whale watching activities will be promoted to a global audience.

She is worried the publicity would bring more tourists to the southern Cebu town. (PNA)LAP/EB/EBP