BANUAE, Ifugao, Philippines — The chief executive of this tourist town is seeking the help of the national government and international community for the preservation of the famed but endangered Banaue rice terraces in order to sustain the robust tourism industry that had placed the province in the map of most preferred places worldwide.

”We need the help of the national government and even the international community to preserved the rice terraces of our municipality which is now on the state of deterioration because of various natural and man-made activities,” appealed Mayor Jerry Dalipog.

Many of the private owners of the rice terraces cannot attend to their land anymore because they have found a much better source of livelihood within or outside the province and that their children are also studying in different schools outside the province.

They are old to attend farming the terraces, their children are going to school while others are working elsewhere which has left the rice terraces barren and being invaded by pests.

"If there are no palay planted, what will the tourists see? The terraces are not worth viewing for if there is no rice planted in it," Dalipog said.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is bent on delisting the rice terraces in the municipality adding it is an endangered heritage site because the terraces have rapidly deteriorated through the years because their owners are no longer tending to the same considering that they have other pressing priorities rather than attending to it he said.

The UNESCO team will be coming back next year to evaluate the status of the terraces, thus, the need for concerned government agencies, local governments and even the private owners of the terraces to SEEcome out with a preservation plan that will bring back the grandeur of the world heritage site to convince the UNESCO team to retain the rice terraces as a scenic word heritage site to further enhance the development of the local tourism industry.