The fisherfolk communities around Tañon Strait find themselves in dire straits when the Japanese company Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd. (JapEx)was commissioned by the Philippine government to look for oil in the area.
Tañon Strait is a protected seascape declared by President Fidel Ramos in 1998, through Presidential Proclamation 1234. Though it is now possible to determine a resource's economic value, its real ecological value is "priceless". With its penchant for the here and now, the immediate economic return of investment, the government is overlooking the inter-generational value of a natural resource such as the Tañon seascape, which is a migration corridor for whales, dolphins and other marine mammals and is home to 11 of the country's 25 sea mammals. It is also home to communities of fisherfolk who derive their livelihood solely from fishing.
I miss this part of the world. I miss Badian; I miss Moalboal; I miss Barili, Dumanjug, Asturias, Toledo, Tuburan. Whew!
ReplyDelete'Iel! Balik tayo dun. Beautiful place but extremely vulnerable to the decisions of government agencies (remember the JapEx scanadal?) as you know he he.
ReplyDelete