Sariaya coast haven for rare sea turtles

By Delfin T. Mallari Jr.
Inquirer Southern Luzon

LUCENA CITY—The shores of Tayabas Bay in Sariaya town in Quezon have been called “haven of baby sea turtles” after Tuesday’s release of 92 Hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricate) in Barangay Guisguis.

Only last week, 123 Olive Ridley turtle hatchlings were released in nearby Barangay San Roque, Ernesto Amores Jr., municipal agriculture officer, said by phone yesterday.

Similar events took place in other coastal villages last year but most went undocumented by the municipal agriculture office, he said.

“The fishermen and coastal villagers were fully aware of the law prohibiting possession and killing of endangered marine species,” Amores said.

Appendix I of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species deems it illegal to import or export turtle products, or to kill, capture or harass the sea turtle listed as “critically endangered.”

Republic Act No. 8550 or the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 and RA 9147 or the Wildlife Act punish people who fish and take rare and threatened species, and destroy their habitats.

Coastal villagers and owners of several beach resorts are “in solidarity” with the local government in promoting Sariaya as a sea turtle haven. Together with representatives of Tanggol Kalikasan-Southern Tagalog and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), they witnessed how the gentle creatures, locally known as pawikan, crawled toward the bay waters before sunset on Tuesday.

Amores cited the effort of a resort owner, Rene Panganiban, who received technical help from the local government when he initiated a campaign to protect sea turtles waiting for their eggs to hatch along the coast for a period of 58 days.

Amores urged business establishments along the bay to actively participate in such campaigns as these promote the local government’s tourism thrusts.

The Sariaya coastline, host to many beach resorts and other tourist-oriented businesses, serves as sanctuary to turtles that usually come to lay and hatch their eggs from October to December.

Along with the DENR in Quezon, the municipality plans to establish a turtle hatching site in San Roque.

Mt. Banahaw protected landscape closed for 3 more years

By Michelle Zoleta The Philippine Star Updated February 20, 2012 12:00 AM

Dolores, Quezon, Philippines – The Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) has passed a resolution extending for another three years the closure of the Mt. Banahaw-San Cristobal Protected Landscape to continue its rehabilitation and conservation of habitats and biodiversity.

In a meeting last Thursday in Barangay Kinabuhayan this town, members and representatives of the PAMB agreed to close Mt. Banahaw to mountaineers and religious groups planning to conduct activities at the so-called “Holy Mountain’’ this coming Lent.

“The area will continue to undergo massive reforestation to bring back its former grandeur,’’ said Sally Pangan of the PAMB.

PAMB representatives hail from areas having jurisdiction over Mt. Banahaw such Tayabas, Sariaya, Candelaria, Majayjay, Nagcarlan, Liliw and Rizal towns and San Pablo City, all in Laguna, and Dolores town in Quezon.

The meeting focused on various programs on how to protect Mt. Banahaw, which is usually visited by pilgrims and mountaineers during the Holy Week.

The Ecosystem Research Bureau headed by Dr. Lope Calanog will spearhead the program called “Eco-Tourism for Mt. Banahaw’’ aimed at identifying the potentials of its geographical area.

Calanog said they would also assess the mountain’s biodiversity.

Banahaw and San Cristobal have been declared protected areas under Republic Act 9847.

Govt body urges continued closure of Mts. Banahaw, San Cristobal in Quezon

SUNDAY, 19 FEBRUARY 2012 18:08 JOHN BELLO / CORRESPONDENT

DOLORES, Quezon—A body overseeing the protection of Mount Banahaw and Mount San Cristobal, the two legendary mountains straddling the provinces of Laguna and Quezon, is calling for the continued closure of the two mountains to tourists and visitors for another three years.  

At the regular meeting held last Thursday in Barangay Kinabuhayan here, members of the Protected Area Management Board of Mts. Banahaw–San Cristobal Protected Landscape (PAMB-MBSCPL) unanimously agreed to close the two mountain for three more years.

Lawyer Sheila de Leon, head of the environment advocacy group Tanggol Kalikasan (TK), said the action made by PAMB is for the further protection of Mt. Banahaw and for the benefits of the communities surrounding it. 

A research conducted by the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau headed by Dr. Lope Calanog said the carrying capacity for the areas of worshipping, camping, parking and bathing has exceeded its limit. They said Mt. Banahaw needs to be closed for three more years so that the PAMB can conduct an assessment of its biodiversity and put in place a visitors’ management scheme.

TK and other environment nongovernment groups have been complaining of the continued deterioration of Mts. Banahaw and San Cristobal due to pollution from trash and other environment abuses caused by thousands of mountain trekkers, vacationers and devotees of the sacred Mounts Banahaw and San Cristobal, especially during Holy Week.

This prompted the PAMB to pass a resolution on March 9, 2004, closing some areas in Mount Banahaw for five years.  The closure covered areas in the side of Dolores and Sariaya, Quezon. Included were the sacred shrines called Puestos in Barangay Kinabuhayan from Cristalino Falls to Dungaw down to Tatlong Tangke and back to Kinabuhayan here.

In Sariaya, Quezon, the closed puestos were from Barangay Bugon-Pagbuga and Dulong Ilaya in Barangay Concepcion Pinagbakuran and Concepcion Banahaw.   

In a regular meeting of PAMB on Jan. 29, 2009, a resolution was passed extending the closure of Mt. Banahaw for three more years.

Hobart Dator Jr., president of Save Mt. Banahaw Movement, called the attention of the authors of Mounts Banahaw-San Cristobal Protected Areas law-Sen. Pia Cayetano and then-Quezon Second District Rep. Proceso Alcala—in light of the frequent occurrence of calamities in the country that could hit the two mountains and endanger thousands of lives and properties in various communities in Laguna and Quezon.

“That’s why I am pressing for the creation of a Mt. Banahaw Preservation Authority [MBPA] to oversee and put in place the necessary measures and regulations for the protection of Mounts Banahaw and Cristobal and thus for the protection of precious lives and property that could be wasted in case an environment tragedy hit the two protected mountains,” said Dator who first asked President Aquino in September 2010 to create the MBPA in the aftermath of a kilometer-long landslide in the slopes of Mt. Banahaw triggered by Typhoon Basyang which hit the country July that year.

Dator said concrete actions and not mere palliatives have to be done to ensure environment protection and the preservation of the two mountains in view of the climate-change phenomenon gripping the whole world.

Banahaw, San Cristobal mountains closed to trekkers till 2015

By Delfin T. Mallari Jr.
Inquirer Southern Luzon

DOLORES, Quezon—The Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) for Mounts Banahaw and San Cristobal has declared the two mountains as still off limits to trekkers for the next three years.

In a meeting on Thursday, the PAMB tasked by the government to monitor state-declared protected areas adopted the recommendation by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB) to extend the closure of the mountains until Feb. 16, 2015.

“Our collective decision is for the benefit of Mounts Banahaw and San Cristobal. The place is not yet ready for public intrusion. We have to protect and sustain the gains from its past closure,” Salud Pangan, DENR-Protected Area Superintendent for Mounts Banahaw-San Cristobal, said in an interview after the meeting.

The two mountains cover 11,133.30 hectares straddling several towns of Quezon and Laguna were declared protected under Republic Act No. 9847 by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Dec. 11, 2009.

Mt. Banahaw, which used to be visited by about half a million people during the Holy Week, was sealed off to the public since 2004 to resurrect the mountain resources damaged by slash-and-burn farming and the irresponsible conduct of mountaineers, religious pilgrims and nature trippers who littered the place with their trash. Its 8-year closure was supposed to have ended on Jan. 29, 2012.

For the coming Holy Week, the PAMB will also promulgate restriction for religious devotees and urban mountaineers who annually troop to Kinabuhayan to pray and camp out at the allowed areas.

She said campers, religious pilgrims and vendors would be assigned in two separate areas. “The campers will also be required to pay a certain fee before they can be allowed to put up their tents,” Pangan said.

A study of the ERDB shows that the camping site, worship areas and the common bathing place for devotees in one of the “sacred” rivers in the village had already exceeded their carrying capacities.

'Pawikans' Released At Tayabas Bay

By DANNY ESTACIO

MANILA BULLETIN

SARIAYA, Quezon, Philippines — A total of 123 hatchlings of the olive ridley turtle endangered species or “pawikan” were released Friday by environment groups at Tayabas Bay, here.

Tanggol Kalikasan-Timog Katagalugan (TK-TK) Special Project Officer Efrelyn N. Escultura Calabano said the sea turtle eggs were discovered by the Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO) and the Bantay Dagat last November and then cared for by concerned public and private agencies.

The olive ridley sea turtle is most commonly known as Pacific Ridley and considered vulnerable because of large scale commercial exploitation and trading of their skin, Calabano said.

Sariaya Mayor Boyet V. Masilang ordered the municipal agriculture office to conduct a seminar for coastal village residents for the proper handling and caring of sea turtles since the place has become a favorite breeding ground and hatching area of marine turtles.

Baby turtles sent back to their home

Written by : BELLY OTORDOZ AND ANTHONY BAYARONG

MANILA TIMES

SARIAYA, Quezon: One hundred twenty-three (123) newly hatched baby sea turtles of the Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys Olivacea) species were released yesterday, February 10, into the sea – their natural habitat – in Barangay San Roque of this town.

Rodante Pabellar, a Bantay-Dagat volunteer here told The Manila Times he found in November last year the 241 sea turtle eggs embedded along the coastline. While 123 hatchlings had been released,118 eggs aren’t yet hatched.

He said he transferred the eggs to a safe place and contacted the Municipal Agriculturist of Sariaya, Ernesto Amores Jr. for the eggs’ proper disposition and caring.

Before the hatchlings’ release yesterday, Amores briefed the residents on the importance of sea turtles or ‘pawikan’ in the eco-system.

He said the sea turtles help the sea grass bed thrive by eating and thus replenishing the sea grass bed.

Also, the sea turtles’ waste, Amores added, serves as nutrients to other sea creatures, thereby maintaining the healthy eco-system of the ocean.

The hatchlings were released five meters from the water’s edge, affording the baby turtles to retain familiarity of the area, for they tend to come back after 20-25 years to lay their eggs.

Lawyer Shiela de Leon, area director of Tanggol Kalisakan-Timog Katagalugan also informed the residents of the consequence should they intentionally capture sea turtles, which belong to endangered species.

She said 12 to 20 years’ imprisonment awaits those who capture sea turtles; a penalty of P100,000, six years imprisonment and a fine of P300,000 awaits those who sell or make sea turtles their pet without permission from the authorities.

Over at SUBIC Bay Freeport, All Hands Beach Resort helped out 60 students from an international school release more than 100 turtle hatchling, all named ‘PNoy Pawikan’ Wednesday, in honor of President Benigno Aquino’s birthday last February 8.

The resort has become an instant tourist attraction after several batches of marine turtles were released since December.

The company has already taken measures to make the beach resort into a sea turtle nesting site.

“We have already contacted the Ecology Center of the SBMA (Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority) and have asked their support in helping these animals,” resort owner Mark Dayrit said, adding that the resort staff was given proper training in taking care of the turtles.

He also said that the Ecology Center has given them five tags to identify the mothers that lay their eggs on the resort’s beach. The center also gave them a chart to record the number of eggs laid along with a guide on how to relocate the eggs to a safer place within the beach.

123 baby turtles released in Tayabas Bay

By Delfin T. Mallari Jr. Inquirer Southern Luzon

LUCENA CITY—Environmentalists and local officials have let loose some 123 Olive Ridley sea turtle (pawikan) hatchlings to their natural habitat at Tayabas Bay in nearby Sariaya town early morning on Friday.

Ernesto Amores Jr., Sariaya municipal agriculture officer, said the baby turtles were hatched in a nestling site in Barangay San Roque fronting the 40-hectare municipal fish sanctuary.

He said another batch of 103 baby turtles from another nestling site in Barangay Guisguis would also be released back to the sea in the next few days.

“This is not our first release and definitely would not be our last,” Amores told the Inquirer.

The event was witnessed by local officials, staff from environmentalist group Tanggol Kalikasan (TK), fishermen, fish wardens (bantay dagat) and students.

“This is another historical event in our common mission to protect and resurrect Tayabas Bay from its long years of destruction and abuse,” said Zenaida Bernal, community coordinator of TK-coastal and marine program.

Bernal said TK staff brought along their children to witness the momentous occasion.

“Most of the kids turned emotional. One of my children shed tears of joy as she watched how the baby turtles struggled back to the sea,” Bernal said.

Amores said the Sariaya coastline had long been the favorite site of turtle nestling and was now being protected by the local government with help from coastal villagers and resort owners.

Olive Ridley was listed under Appendix One of the Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species which stated that commercial trade of the species was prohibited.

Republic Act No. 9147 (Philippine Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act) prohibited the hunting, selling and killing, as well as collecting of the eggs of endangered species like sea turtles.

The local government aimed to promote the pristine coastline of Sariaya, host to numerous beach resorts and other tourist-oriented business, as “home of sea turtles,” Amores said.

He said turtles arrived at the Sariaya coast to lay eggs from October to December and stayed at the beach for 58 days to hatch the eggs.