Offbeat Pursuits

Many Filipinos do not know how beautiful the Philippines is. In fact, many travel abroad for vacation. We have a saying that if a place is nice, “It feels like I’m not in the Philippines.” This shows that we Filipinos have low regard for our country’s tourist value. Lucky for me, I had been travelling around the Philippines for 3 years and fell in love it. It was such a beautiful place! The country’s best tourist spots could match the very best of the world – beach, coral garden, shipwreck, bungee jump, mountain climbs, caving, etc. That’s when I realized that most Filipinos had low regard for the country’s tourism value because they had never explored it or seen it. That, coupled with the fact that travelling in the Philippines is just so good I have to share it, prompted me to start documenting my travel to amazing offbeat locations.

Finally, I realized along the way that tourism, especially in offbeat areas, provide valuable source of alternative income for fishermen, motorcycle drivers, jeep operators, local canteens and guest houses. Whereas one fisherman can earn $8 or P320 in a 10-hour day of fishing, her can earn $10 or P400 in 1 hour by taking 2 customers swimming in the coral reef. Offbeat Pursuits plans to partner with these people in the future so that we can have a steady and safe flow of tourism into these offbeat locations. The Philippines is so beautiful that I want to share it with everyone, and by taking in the beauty, we also give back to the country by helping the local tour operators make a decent living and protect our natural resources.

In pursuit of offbeat Zambales

For us to capture the amazing scenes of Philippine travel on video, we need to raise money to pay for the food, transportation and lodging of our actors, director and camera partners who are willing to help. Production of videos like the ones we have are difficult – it can take 3-5 days to shoot, then another 2 weeks of work to produce original music and to edit the videos. Each person on the team spends about 100 hours on each video. With the P30,000 the team plans to head out to document Zambales, very offbeat by international standards. A team of 5 people will be working on the video. We are always open to people who would like to join us and help in the shoot (provided they can take care of their own costs).