Philippine mayors hold historic Conference of Coastal Municipalities

President delivers State of the Ocean Address

he Philippines' celebration of its first-ever "Month of the Ocean" ended on a high note with the successful staging of the historic Conference of Coastal Municipalities last May 26-28. The Conference, held at the Manila Midtown Hotel, was participated in by about 600 mayors from the country's more than 800 coastal municipalities, who drafted a resolution "calling for the enactment/implementation of measures empowering the local government units for integrated coastal management."

US Ambassador to the Philippines Thomas Hubbard, Philippine President Joseph Estrada, League of Municipalities of the Philippines National President Jinggoy Estrada and Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno show off "I Love the Ocean" wrist bands at the end of the Conference of Coastal Municipalities in the Philippines last May 28. President Estrada delivered a historic "State of the Ocean Address" during the Conference.

The Conference was attended by the country's top leaders, led by Philippine President Joseph Estrada himself, who delivered a State of the Ocean Address (SOA) on the last day of the Conference. In his SOA, the President reported that the Philippine seas, "the very lifeblood of the Filipino people, are being degraded so rapidly that we stand to irreversibly lose the resources that support food security and the economic development of our country."

The Philippines, the President noted, is maritime nation recognized internationally as the center of the richest tropical marine biodiversity in the world, with over 400 species of corals, more than half of all the coral species worldwide. "Our seas supply us with more than 50% of our annual dietary protein," he said. "Our coastal and marine resources contribute more than P140 billion in national economic benefits each year."

"Unfortunately, we are equally distinguished as the most likely place in the world to lose this national wealth within the next 50 years, if no action is taken."

Mayors from Luzon discuss coastal problems and possible solutions in one of five workshops conducted during the Conference of Coastal Municipalities.

An urgent national concern
Over the last 10 years, Philippine municipal fisheries have declined dramatically to an all-time low, with fish catch decreasing to 2 kg per fisher per day today from 10 kg per fisher per day a decade ago. Fish stocks have become over-harvested beyond their ability to replenish themselves to feed an exploding Filipino population. The country's vast coral reefs - about 27,000 square kilometers by some accounts - have been "blasted, poisoned, collected and bulldozed" that not even 5% can be considered in excellent condition. Its mangrove forests have shrunk from 450,000 hectares in the 1900s to less than 140,000 hectares today, primarily because of conversion to fishponds and other economic uses.

"Even as our nearshore areas are being depleted," said the President, "our Exclusive Economic Zone, which is vast and holds a huge potential for growth, is underexploited by Filipino fishers, but is regularly being poached by foreign fishing vessels."

"We have been robbing our seas and we have been stealing from the natural resource bank accounts of our children, our grandchildren and those yet unborn Filipinos," he added. "We have missed the early warning signs that should have brought us out of our complacency. We have taken the threats to our seas' sustainability for granted for so long, so much so that we now must face up to the fact that our seas and coasts are already in need of emergency attention and intensive care. We have run out of time and we are running out of options. We must act now."

Calling for measures to save what remains of the country's ocean and coastal resources, the President said, "In order for us to save our seas, we must begin today by changing our perspective of our ocean and coasts, and recognizing the real value of these national assets. We must recognize that our ocean and coasts are worth more than their fisheries. Indeed, equally if not more important than the fish that we harvest from our seas is the very environment that nurtures the rich and diverse marine life that is so important to maintaining life on our planet. We must recognize that fisheries can only last for as long as our marine and coastal environment remains intact and healthy, and its rich diversity is preserved."

New task force created
The President created an inter-agency task force that would review the mayors' proposals and formulate a national coastal and marine policy framework incorporating the strategies and action program contained in the Philippine Agenda 21. The task force is expected to assist local government units in the delineation of municipal waters, in accordance with the provisions of Republic Act No. 8550, also known as the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998.
The Departments of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, and Interior and Local Government have been tasked to coordinate the preparation of "action documents" that would operationalize the task force. The task force has been directed to submit an initial report to the President by the end of June this year.

The President also directed the concerned government agencies to review the resolutions submitted by the coastal mayors and study ways of "implementing all of them." The resolutions include proposals for an increase in national funding for coastal management by legislation, the passage of the bill localizing the Philippine National Police "so as to ensure effective implementation of the country's fisheries laws"; the issuance of "the corresponding Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) of RA 8550"; the provision of funds for the purchase of two patrol boats for each coastal municipality; and the allocation to the LGUs of a share in the revenues collected by the Philippine Ports Authority from port operations.

The Conference was also attended by key government leaders, including Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora, Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Antonio Cerilles, Agrarian Reform Secretary and Convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission Horacio Morales, Tourism Secretary Gemma Cruz-Araneta, Presidential Adviser on Agriculture William Dar, Presidential Assistant for Poverty Eradication Donna Gasgonia, LMP National President Jinggoy Estrada, and other dignitaries.

The Conference was organized by LMP in partnership with the Coastal Resource Management Project of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Governance for Local Development (GOLD), Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR), Fisheries Resource Management Project (FRMP), Evelio B. Javier Foundation, Inc., the Office of the President on Poverty Alleviation, and the Office of the Press Secretary. It is the first conference of its kind to be held in Asia, and only the second in the world after Canada.

A mayor's elegy to the sea: Moved by the often passionate discussions on coastal issues during the conference, Mayor Gody Ferrer of Hermosa, Bataan wrote "Taghoy ng Yamang-Dagat" (Sighs of the Sea), a plaintive poem mourning the loss of our coastal and marine resources.