Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — After receiving flak from environmentalists and netizens, a Tourism official addressed on Wednesday the anger over Miss Universe candidates swimming with endangered whale sharks or butanding.
Tourism Undersecretary Kat De Castro said she was asked what the Miss Universe pageant could feature in the Philippines, to which she answered, “We have unique Philippine whale sharks.”
De Castro said she previously met with Oslob officials to ask about the conditions of the whale sharks.
“They told me maganda na, manageable na daw ang whale shark encounters nila. They assured me of that, so we went. Nagkataon lang that the girls were here and they were bound to visit Cebu, ” she said.
De Castro said the five contestants who went with them for an ocular visit – without a Miss Universe production crew in tow – were given guidelines before swimming with the endangered fish.
“They gave guidelines to the girls na they should wear life vests, they should not wear sunblock, they should keep four meters away from the whale shark,” she said.
The tourist attraction has been controversial because of the negative impact of human interaction on the animals. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed the butanding as an endangered species. It reported last July that the “growing human pressure” on whale sharks is putting the fish at an increasing risk of extinction.
To address the concerns of environmentalists and the public, De Castro said they are considering scrapping the footage from Oslob.
“After sitting down probably with the netizens or the environmentalists who are so concerned about it, baka we might as well scrap Oslob altogether. We might just look for whale sharks in other places. I am really firm in featuring the whale sharks in Miss Universe,” she said.
