Wander your sight no more to such exotic place where an underwater grotto is found like the Mediterranean island of Malta. Designed for an adventurous summer vacation plan, any diving enthusiast can marvel at this underwater religious shrine. A number of the most popular dive sites around the world have religious shrines. These shrines include statues of the Virgin Mary or Christ in underwater grottos with plaques or crosses. It may be divine intervention, but these sites always seem to make it to the list of suggested top-diving sites around the world. But why bother about faraway Malta when right in Bohol, it has its own location of underwater wonder where religious icons are in place beneath the water surface. The place is the seawaters off B-Unido.

Like any “Young Turk” of a municipal executive who is bristling with bright ideas to make things happen in his town, Mayor Rey Nino Boniel of B-Unido, is extending an open invitation to visit the municipality and wonder what it has to offer in the field of tourism. The next big thing in Bohol's northern corridor speaking of tourist attractions is the B-Unido Double Barrier Reef Dive Site where its main component is the underwater shrine. Quoting the overview of the project, Mayor Boniel said presently, with the rapid growing population and limited marine resources, he believed that economic diversification is a key dimension for sustainable development. With sustainable coastal tourism in mind, the mayor was convinced that such diversifying opportunity with make northern Bohol the next tourism stop in this part of Bohol since it is blessed with a wealth of tourist destination that remains largely untapped.

The mayor added that the double barrier represents a potential global attraction for divers and eco-tourists, potentially providing numerous jobs and stable tax revenue. However, he said, this can only be realized if the LGU concerned and its constituents will come together for a comprehensive planning. Under the town's master plan, an initial construction of a mini hotel, dive shop, and other basic facilities are already in place. Part of the ambitious project was the setting up of an underwater installation (with an average depth of 60 feet below sea level) of 14-foot religious statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Child Jesus.

The concept of installing the underwater religious statue is to remind illegal fishers especially those using blast fishing and the cyanide fishing and serve as deterrent and reminder of God's greatest gift of nature and life and that, no man can destroy it for the sake of the future generation. Aside from these, for the divers to carry out more dives, they can also pray underwater to have a moment of deeper reflection than those normally experienced, and be very thankful for safely guiding through all their diving adventures, because when in diving, one is immersed in another amazing world where everyone can really appreciate God's wonderful creation. With the town's vision to become a prime eco-cultural tourist destination and a balance agro-industrialized municipality governed by God loving and socially, economically empowered community, B-Unido is now ready to start its first eco-tourism project entitled “The Bien Unido Double Barrier Reef Dive Site, the Underwater Grotto Shrine”.

A BANK LIKE NO OTHER

The Danajon Bank or Double Barrier Reef, located off northern Bohol Islands, is the only double barrier reef in the Philippines and one of only three such sites in the Indo-Pacific (Pichon 1977). The reef spread across almost 130 kms. and consist of three large reefs. Caubyan reef is the largest covering about 143 sq. km. There are 5 smaller reefs in the Northern outer region and one other large reef, Calituban reef in the inner region. The overall area of the Danajon Bank is 272 sq. km. w/ an Aggregate Coastline of 381 km including 40 islands. The Danajon Bank make up over 1% of the total area of corral reefs of the Philippines (estimated at 27,000 sq. km.). Seventeen municipalities include the Danajon Bank within their area of jurisdiction within 4 provinces and 2 regions. In region 7, 10 municipalities belong to Bohol and 2 to Cebu. In region 8, 1 belongs to Leyte and 4 to Southern Leyte. The shoreline of all 17 municipalities covers 699 kilometers.

GEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

The DDBR is a unique geologic structure in the Philippines having developed through 6000 years of coral growth. It is a larger and better-defined structure than any other known double barrier reefs in the world. The outer reef lies 11 km offshore, and is composed of several units up to 23 km long each. The inner barrier is 2 km wide and separated from the littoral by an inshore channel, 28 m deep at most.

ECOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Danajon Bank has a high degree of diversity in its flora and fauna. Its location inside an “inland” sea (the Camotes Sea) contributes to endemism within the high diversity of fish, coral and other invertebrates and algae species. The large reef structure relatively protected from strong currents and storms encourage a wide variety of microhabitats to flourish inside and adjacent to the reef lagoons and slopes.

STATUS

The decline of the Danajon Bank began in the late 50's due to rampant illegal fishing and over-fishing. This was compounded in the 1960's with the aquarium fish trade and the use of sodium cyanide. Illegal actions have continued and sedimentation has steadily increased in recent years as land used has intensified.

TREASURES AS PART OF THE DANAJON BANK

Located 108 kms. northeast of the provincial capital of Tagbilaran City, Bien Unido is one of 11 Bohol towns that border the Danajon bank, facing the Philippine Double Barrier Reef. It lies directly across part of Dawajon reef in the outer western portion of PDBR, with jurisdiction and responsibility over 51,299 hectares of marine waters that support 1,582 hectares of mangroves and productive reef and seagrass area. Effect of such resource problems as mentioned above have radiated to low productivity and unemployment, thus generally affected the poorest among the poor and family living below poverty threshold.

Rehabilitation activities was undertaken a few years back especially during the implementation of Bien Unido Integrated Marine Development Project under the Community Based Resource Management Project (BUIMDP- CBRMP) funded by the World Bank and implemented by the Department of Finance (WB-DOF). The LGU, thru the Coastal Resource Management (CRM) Program continued its effort to rehabilitate, managed and protect its coastal resources. Considering the complexity of the fisheries problem, we still able to, slowly make positive changes remarkably. Our municipality also considered as the Seaweeds Capital of the Visayas producing almost 100 metric tons per day, which can also be potential for tourism.