This small town has transformed into a hub for tourism, a big turn-around from being a hotbed of terrorism.

Mayor Aran Boller said they are now reaping the fruit of an intensified anti-insurgency campaign, complemented by the completion of the road leading to the town center from the national highway.

“People know that this town is a rebel lair, but in the past years. We did everything to erase this image with the help of the military and the police,” he said in an interview Thursday.

“For people to believe that the municipality is already peaceful, we developed our cold spring into a resort to attract visitors.”

From one cold spring resort (Matugnaw Spring), the local government opened a second one (Maslog Cold Spring). A third one is also being developed.

The local tourism office logged some 66,320 daytime visitors since the cold spring resorts opened in 2021.

In 2024, they recorded 15,084 tourist arrivals, placing them in 12th rank among the top 20 most visited tourism sites in Samar province. This number is expected to increase as they continue to develop more sites.

The local government has also submitted proposals to the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority to fund their ecotourism projects.

Aside from the cold springs, the town has caves and waterfalls that are being prepared for tourism activities.

The town only accepts day tourists due to a lack of accommodation facilities. Boller earlier appealed to town residents with the financial capacity to invest in putting up accommodation facilities.

“Right now, there are houses that can be rented out for those who want to stay overnight, but probably by next year we will have an accommodation facility here,” Boller said.

Matuguinao is only 30 minutes from the main road of Samar Island, way more convenient compared to a four-hour boat trip from the highway in Gandara town before the completion of the road project funded through the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan program.

Almost all of its 20 villages used to be influenced by the New People’s Army (NPA).

At present, all communities are free from NPA influence, although four villages are under monitoring for recovery attempts by rebels.

Boller said there are only six remaining active NPA members who are residents of their town, but they are not operating in other areas. They are being eyed for localized peace talks with the help of their families. (PNA)