At the southern tip of Southern Leyte lies Panaon Island. Its surrounding waters are hosts to an excellent coral cover, while those in most parts of the country are already extinct.
What’s more, nothing short of spectacular is the breathtaking beauty of the island’s underwater environment.
Shared by municipalities of San Ricardo, Pintuyan, San Francisco and Liloan in Southern Leyte province, it is inhabited by close to 60,000 people, and its waters by a diverse species of mangroves, seagrasses and corals, including marine wildlife.
Threats to Panaon Island
According to Oceana Philippines, a nongovernment ocean conservation advocacy group, close to 20 marine sanctuaries that were established and managed by local governments in partnership with local communities on the island are threatened by natural and human-induced risks and hazards.
Located on the pathway of super typhoons and other extreme weather conditions associated with the worsening impact of climate change, Panaon Island is vulnerable to natural disasters.
Aggravating the situation is the intrusion of commercial fishing operators in the municipal waters of the island, and other destructive fishing activities that are weighing down the limited resources of local government units (LGUs).
Rich coastal and marine ecosystem
The island’s coastal and marine ecosystem is rich in biodiversity.
Its coral reefs are among the three priority reefs in the Philippines, and of 50 reefs in the world.
They are funded, among others, by Bloomberg Philanthropies, because their strong and very good coral reefs are said to most likely survive the impacts of climate change and have a better chance to repopulate neighboring reefs over time.
Deonel Beto, a local businessman and farmer from Liloan, Southern Leyte, told the BusinessMirror in Filipino that the island’s “best-kept secret” lies beneath the surface of its crystal clear waters.
Unexplored, beautiful corals
“Panaon Island is still unexplored. On the opposite side of the island are established dive sites, which are very [popular]. Unlike here [Panaon Island], where the corals are still intact and the walls of reefs are beautiful,” he said in a telephone interview on April 12.
Beto, 42, a dive master, is one of the over 30 volunteers and conservation partners of Oceana who recently launched an underwater cleanup in the island’s waters, specifically to remove crown of thorns that have been infesting corals.
He said other fishermen are now encroaching in marine sanctuaries around the island, and “they should be stopped.”
Beto noted the slowly dwindling fish catch in Liloan and around the island. He said the island’s rich coastal and marine biodiversity is threatened by unsustainable fishing.
“We need to protect Panaon Island and we need to implement rules and regulations that will protect our resources,” he said.
He supported the initiative of Oceana and local government officials in the province to declare the island a protected area.
Campaign for marine protected area
In October 2020, Oceana conducted a scientific expedition in the area and confirmed the rich biodiversity of Panaon Island’s surrounding coastal and marine ecosystem.
The findings brought about a valuable cache of data and evidence that led Oceana and local and national stakeholders to launch a campaign to declare the island a marine protected area under Republic Act 11038, or the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System (E-Nipas) Act.
Among the expedition’s findings revealed a high percentage of live corals with 62 genera of hard corals; high fish diversity with 427 species, including 155 commercially important and 23 reef fish indicators of health; high diversity of marine wildlife like sea turtles, whale sharks, dolphins and sharks.
Oceana noted that the area has 18 marine species listed as threatened or endangered in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
Lastly, there are a total of 19 mangrove species found around the island, including two species that are listed as threatened under the IUCN Red List.
Ecologically important
Marianne P. Saniano, Oceana’s Science and Conservation Manager, highlighted the importance of protecting biodiversity-rich areas like Panaon Island in an interview via Messenger with the BusinessMirror on April 12.
“Panaon Island is part of the 50 priority reefs identified by scientists that can highly likely withstand the devastating impacts of global climate change. The coral reefs of Panaon are still in good condition. Prioritizing these kinds of reefs can provide sources of refuge to the adjacent reefs and make these reefs recuperate,” she explained.
“In 2020, we went to all the marine sanctuaries of Panaon Island for the biophysical assessment. Each sanctuary has its own unique characteristics, its own beauty. In every dive, it gets better and better,” added Saniano, who stayed on the island for a month during the 2020 Panaon Island Expedition and public consultations with 84 barangays covered by the proposed protected area as part of the E-Nipas process.
“Every day, I’d get to meet and talk to fisherfolks and the community. I got to hear their apprehensions and their thirst for a better life,” she said.
Panaon Island, composed of fourth- and fifth-class municipalities, “will surely benefit both the people and provide sustainable management of the marine resources there” if it s protected under the E-Nipas Act, she said.
According to Saniano, each day of the expedition was an affirmation that protecting the waters of Panaon Island is a special place that needs attention and urgent protection not only for the people of Panaon but for the rest of the country.
“As what our battle cry says, ‘Panahon na ng Panaon,’” she said.
Enhanced protection
Atty. Gloria Estenzo-Ramos, Oceana vice president in the Philippines, told the BusinessMirror that the best way to protect and conserve Panaon Island is through enhanced protection under E-Nipas Act which requires legislation.
Declaring the island as a protected area will also benefit the Filipino people who need sustainable sources of fish resources for food, nutrition and livelihood security, she explained in the interview on April 11 via Zoom.
According to Ramos, an environmental lawyer, legislators from Southern Leyte have filed separate bills seeking to declare Panaon Island as a protected seascape to safeguard the island’s coral reefs and threatened and endangered species that inhabit the island’s coastal and marine environment.
Proposed legislative measures
According to Ramos, Rep. Christopherson Yap (Southern Leyte Second District) filed House Bill 4095 and Rep. Luz Mercado (Southern Leyte First District) filed House Bill 3743 at the start of the 19th Congress in 2022 to declare the Panaon Island as a protected area under the category of a seascape.
Both bills have been consolidated in a committee report that was submitted to the Committee on Appropriations for the approval of provisions on appropriations.
Similarly, in the Senate, Sen. Cynthia Villar filed Senate Bill 1690 early this year titled, “Panaon Island Protected Seascape Act of 2023.”
Villar, the chairman of the Senate committee on environment and natural resources, emphasized that despite the presence of extensive coral reefs and vibrant fish communities, the abundance and biomass of commercially important species show signs of overfishing and other anthropogenic threats.
The National Mapping and Resource Information Authority had already completed the mapping that will identify the areas to be covered by the proposed measures.
‘A rare and precious gem’
Citing the findings of scientists who conducted the scientific expedition in 2020, Ramos said Panaon is “a rare and precious gem” not only for the country but for the world.
“The communities themselves realize the importance of having marine protected areas. They have 19 marine sanctuaries and they know how to protect them,” she said.
If Panaon Island is declared as a protected seascape under the E-Nipas, she said there will be stronger protection measures for the entire island.
She said with the E-Nipas Act, 45 actions against illegal fishing, including commercial fishing, will be strictly prohibited, on pain of heavy penalties.
“We hope the commercial fishing in this area will stop. This is a must!” she said.
Ramos pointed out that even LGUs support the declaration of Panaon Island as a protected island with all its four municipalities have passed a resolution supporting it.
The provincial government also entered into a memorandum of agreement with the DENR to have it declared as a protected area, she said.
At the same time, the academe, the Southern Leyte State University and the University of the Philippines, “helped conduct studies that support this initiative.”
According to Ramos, if Panaon Island is declared as a protected area, funding for the protection and conservation of the area will be made available, ensuring not only the sustainable development of the island but the implementation of various environmental and fisheries laws, as well.
‘A protected area is like a bank’
Asean Centre for Biodiversity Executive Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim said that with the recently adopted Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework target of protecting 30 percent of the world’s rich marine areas by 2030, and the Philippines joining the High Ambition Coalition, the proclamation of Panaon Island seascape as part of the national protected area system “would certainly be a welcome contribution towards achieving the said global aspiration.”
“The designation should also be complemented with resources that will ensure effective management and proper enforcement of protected area laws, including support to the communities who are frontliners in the protection of biodiversity in the area,” Lim told the BusinessMirror via Messenger on April 12.
For his part, Prof. Rex Sadaba of the University of the Philippines (UP) Visayas said there is a “need to increase our protected areas.”
“These areas are usually pristine. By protecting them, we are conserving for the future generation,” Sadaba told the BusinessMirror in Filipino in a telephone interview on April 13.
He added that once an area is declared a protected area, illegal and destructive fishing activities will be curbed, adding that even legal fishing that is harmful can be stopped, if not limited to the enforcement of laws, rules and regulations.
“A protected area is like a bank. You save fish stock and spend only that interest by repopulating other areas with fish from the area you protect,” he explained.
Sadaba, among the 2019 Distinguished Alumni awardee for Environmental Rehabilitation and Management at the 2019 UP Alumni Homecoming at UP Diliman, added that in the Visayas, the practice of declaring areas as marine sanctuaries is for the protection and conservation of the environment and natural resources.
The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said that for local fishing communities, any initiative to conserve the country’s marine resources and fishing waters are always welcome.
However, the group said that there should be a thorough assessment of the potential impacts of such measures on the livelihood of municipal fisherfolk.
“Will the traditional and nondestructive fishing methods of small fishers be prohibited as part of regulating the fishing activities in the area?” asked Ronnel Arambulo, Pamalakaya national spokesman during the BusinessMirror interview via Messenger on April 13.
He said these questions must be settled with the local fishing communities before placing the waters off Panaoan Island a protected seascape.
“Moreover, there should be a guarantee that this will not pave the way for the conversion and privatization of fishing communities,” Arambulo added.
“Small-scale fishers are always at the forefront of safeguarding their source of livelihood against any form of destructive activities, whether it be an outright threat to the marine environment or a conservation measure façade.” Arambulo pointed out.
Image credits: Danny Ocampo/Oceana , Danny Ocampo/Oceana