OVER SEAS -- The Online Magazine for Sustainable Seas

Negros Oriental

CRMP’s coverage in Negros Oriental is extensive: seven coastal municipalities and two cities, including the provincial capital, Dumaguete City, and Bais City, the industrial center about 45 km north of Dumaguete. The province is recognized as a pioneer in coastal resource management, largely as a result of work done by researchers of Silliman University, which is noted for its Marine Laboratory at Silliman Farm Beach. Here, a short distance offshore, one finds the country’s first artificial (tire) reef, installed in 1977 and now sheltering diverse marine life. There are more than 20 marine sanctuaries along the coasts of Negros Oriental, including the Apo Island Marine Sanctuary, widely regarded as a model of community-based coastal resource management. Strong local government support and multi-sectoral cooperation play a crucial role in Negros Oriental’s success in sustaining the coastal management programs initiated by the World Bank-assisted Central Visayas Regional Project (1984-1992), Silliman University and other groups.

Preparing for the Planning Phase
With village-level participatory coastal resource assessment (PCRA) nearly complete, Negros Oriental is gearing up for the next stage of its CRM work: the compilation of assessment results into the coastal area profile, an important input to the CRM planning process. "In April, we will begin a series of participatory development planning workshops covering 16 barangays (villages), or two barangays in each of the eight municipalities under the CRMP learning area," said Learning Area Coordinator William Ablong. CRMP’s objective is for the outputs of these workshops to be incorporated in the five-year development plan of each municipality.

Ablong said he is confident that this objective will be achieved. "We have key persons in each municipality who are part of the planning process and therefore are expected to be supportive of its outcome," he explained. "The planning officer plays a particularly critical role in this process and I am happy to note that all but one of the planning officers in the CRMP learning area will be attending April’s workshops." Sibulan’s planning officer cannot make it but promised to send a representative.

As the planning workshops get underway, other concerns are getting their fair share of attention. CRMP’s enterprise development team is scheduled to visit the area on March 27-30 to identify opportunities for enterprise and livelihood development. "This is the right time to introduce alternative livelihood to the communities because public awareness of coastal environmental issues is already high," said Ablong. "The communities have proven their willingness to participate in the CRM process. Now we must show them that good CRM practices can also translate into economic benefits for the community."

Meanwhile, Andre Uychiaco of the University of the Philippines-Marine Science Institute (UP-MSI) will conduct on March 30-April 3 a monitoring survey of the Cagmating, Sibulan Marine Reserve to determine the reserve’s socioeconomic and biological impacts. This is the second such survey to be conducted since the establishment of the reserve.

In the Spotlight
Negros Oriental’s Apo Island Marine Sanctuary in Dauin and dolphin and whale-watching ecotourism project in Bais City welcomed two TV production groups this first quarter. A crew from the educational program AgriSiyete (GMA) spent five days on Apo Island last January to shoot an instructional video on the establishment of community-based marine sanctuaries, a 7-day course which will air on March 31 to April 8.

Another team from the public affairs show Brigada Siete (also of GMA) was in Bais in early March for the last leg of their tour of CRMP learning and expansion areas (they also went to Olango Island in Cebu, a learning area, and Palompon, Leyte, an expansion area). During their stay in Negros Oriental, the Brigada Siyete team also looked into a controversial reclamation project of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA). The project, part of an expansion plan for the Port of Dumaguete, is being opposed by Silliman University and a few other groups who say it has not gone through environmental clearance procedures prescribed for construction projects. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region 7 has issued a cease-and-desist order on ongoing works, but PPA has not complied, saying the order has no legal basis. The matter has been elevated to the office of the DENR Secretary. §