MANILA, Philippines — Wakeboarding as a novel sports to Filipinos was introduced in the country by Camarines Sur Governor “LRay” Villafuerte Jr. and it became the top tourist drawer to that Bicol province.

Now comes Wakepark in nearby Nuvali complex in Laguna promoted reportedly as the new upscale site of wakeboarding sports also by the young provincial executive.

Both are competing attractions. Many see their existence as a conflict of interest, just as many CamSur constituents of Governor LRay fear the Nuvali Park wakeboarding will take away the profitable business from them.

Here is an e-mail statement sent to this columnist last Friday on what it believes is an apparent unhealthy competition, and more:

Camarines Sur is among the newest tourist attractions in the country, drawing an increasing number of both foreign and local visitors to its excellent beaches and colorful festivals.

Among its main tourist draws is Gota beach in Caramoan Peninsula which is said to rival the world-famous Boracay beach in Aklan province. Surrounded by jagged mountains and interesting rock formations, the secluded white beach in Gota has become a popular tourist destination in recent years.

The provincial government, eager to cash in on the popularity of Caramoan Peninsula, has developed resort facilities in the area and now hosts various watersports activities. Among these is wakeboarding, which involves riding a wakeboard over the water surface. Wakeboard riders use a combination of water skiing, snowboarding, and surfing techniques.

CamSur’s reputation as the country’s wakeboarding capital, however, may soon be a thing of the past. And ironically, it is none other than the provincial governor who spearheaded Caramoan’s emergence as a popular wakeboarding destination, Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte. He is allegedly behind attempts to draw tourists to Laguna.

Why Laguna?

The province is the site of Republic Nuvali Wakepark, a recent addition to Nuvali, a 1,700-hectare mixed-use project of Ayala Land and the Yulo family.

Villafuerte reportedly now touts Nuvali wakepark as the “ultimate destination” for wakeboarding aficionados. Why his enthusiasm? Does he have some kind of an investment in the project? If true, is this not clear case of conflict of interest? Many in CamSur are just asking.

A recent news report quoted Villafuerte as saying that the Laguna wakepark is “not only going to be the nearest, but it’s going to be the most innovative (wakeboard destination). We have better location, better equipment, better layout, and better facilities.”

President of the Philippine Wakeboard Association and a member of the Asian Wakeboarding Council, LRay can easily convince the World Wakeboarding Association to hold its competition this year or the next in Nuvali.

By the way, if we are to believe the Commission on Audit, it has allegedly found interesting but questionable transactions in its 2009 CoA Report.

(Last July 4, 2011, a columnist in another broadsheet listed 12 of these alleged CoA findings. This was followed by a news item in the same paper, Page A19, July 8, 2011.)

Among these is a cash overdraft in the General Fund in the amount of P168,048,269.87, as of December 31, 2009.

The provincial government is also being asked why it spent an enormous amount for programs and activities undertaken by the Provincial Social Services Office reportedly without approved program/activity designs and established criteria.

CoA also pointed out that unserviceable properties, as reported by the Provincial General Services Office were not properly disposed of, resulting to the overstatement of assets in the financial statements.

Then there are the cash advances to provincial officials and employees that remained allegedly unliquidated at the end of the year.

The amounts involved are not peanuts, considering that CamSur is not exactly a wealthy province.