Ordinance. 031-2023, or the Mabini Integrated Coastal Management Code of 2023, that was enacted by the local government of Mabini, Batangas province, on October 23, 2024, took effect on January 19.
The ordinance puts in place an integrated management framework to achieve food security and livelihood opportunities through fishery and tourism development, including the promotion of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and solid waste management.
These are mitigating measures to reduce vulnerabilities to natural hazards, and impacts of climate change.
Rich marine biodiversity
As a coastal municipality, Mabini is known for its rich marine biodiversity. It boasts of dive and snorkeling sites. Anilao, one of its barangays, is popular among beach-goers.
The first photograph of a Sailfin velifer was taken by Danny Ocampo, a master diver and expert underwater photographer who resides in Mabini. A scientist pointed out that it was the first photographic evidence of a living specimen of the species in the Philippines.
Like other coastal towns in Batangas and other parts of the country, Mabini’s coastal and marine ecosystems are threatened by unsustainable practices like solid waste, agriculture, and even beach tourism.
Rules and regulations
In enacting the law, local officials of Mabini, led by Mayor Nilo M. Villanueva, aim to strictly regulate activities that put pressure on the municipality’s environment. It puts in place rules to follow in solid waste management, as well as tourism activities.
The ordinance mandates the creation of the Integrated Coastal Community Management Council, a multi-stakeholder policy-making body led by the mayor, and the Integrated Coastal Management Office.
It likewise institutionalizex the creation of Bantay Kalikasan, a community-based law enforcement group, and establish the Integrated Coastal Management Trust Fund, where regulatory fees and fines that will be imposed under the new law, will be kept to fund conservation and protection activities.
It also offers a solution to the problem brought about by the encroachment of establishments on coastal areas, as the ordinance outlines compliance with easement rules even for existing establishments.
Ridge-to-reef conservation
Willard Allan Estillore, head of City Environment and Natural Resource Office (CENRO) of Lipa, Batangas, which has administrative jurisdiction over Mabini ,said the ordinance is anchored on the ridge-to-reef approach to conservation.
The ridge-to-reef approach aims to provide a holistic intervention for protecting the coastal area by targeting environmental degradation in the uplands that impacts coastal ecosystems through sedimentation, by restoring the shoreline and protecting marine ecosystems.
He said the ordinance will also help promote the protection and conservation of Mabini’s rich marine biodiversity, including its fish stock, through the marine protected areas (MPAs) system.
“There are currently three [local] MPAs in Mabini and there are plans to establish more MPAs,” he told the BusinessMirror in a telephone interview on February 13.
The ordinance seeks to address the growing problem of structures that have encroached Mabini’s coastal areas.
“All these problems on encroachment in the coastal areas will be addressed by this ordinance,” he said, confident that the measures put in place will work for Mabini.
Romy Trono, chairman of Mabini Coastal Resource Management Technical Working Group who helped craft the policy, said ridge-to-reef is the ideal approach to coastal resources management.
Along with Manolo Boy Jumaquio, community development specialist and former WWF Philippines and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) staff, Trono helped facilitate numerous public consultations in preparation for the crafting of the ordinance, which he said, is doable, and can be replicated in other towns in the Philippines.
Previously, he said, marine conservation only focuses on the coastal areas.
“The call now is for the DENR and other local governent units [LGUs] to mainstream this policy to protect and conserve coastal and marine ecosystems,” he told the BusinessMirror in a telephone interview on January 16.
Harmony and balance
Ocampo, an environment advocate, who frequently dives in Mabini areas and in nearby town of Tingloy, underscored the importance of having an ICM approach for Mabini in harmonizing efforts to manage coastal resources and striking a balance with development related to tourism, infrastructure and livelihood.
“Specifically, the new ordinance outlines the ridge-to-reef approach to ensure that the approach is holistic and considers land-based management and its impact on coastal and marine resources as well,” Ocampo, who volunteers in various activities to protect and conserve threatened reefs, told the BusinessMirror via email on January 20.
He noted that the ordinance, encompassing as it is, is promising and good for a town like Mabini, which is facing numerous threats—such as indiscriminate dumping of garbage and unregulated coral propagation projects that do more harm than good.
However, he said like any good law, what is needed is its strict implementation.
“I am hopeful that Mabini’s new ordinance will be implemented without fear or favor,” he said.
Unmitigated development
According to Ocampo, Mabini is faced with the problem of unmitigated development. New resorts, he said, lead to more siltation that suffocates corals and other marine life.
“My first trip to Mabini/Anilao was in the early 1980s when I was in High School. As a student, we went to Mabini as part of our Nature Lover’s Club’s exposure trip. Back then there was no road to the resorts so we had to take boats. I could still remember the clear waters from Anilao Port to Barangay Bagalangit where the resort was and the shore was lined with really beautiful corals up to the shallows,” he said.
He recalled that in 1989, when he did his Openwater Checkout in Mabini, he observed it was the start of the build-up of new resorts, together with the circumferential road.
“The soil, rock, and sand from the new road buried the coastal areas of Mabini and the silt eventually killed the shallow corals. What we have now in San Jose, for example, are rocky, sandy, and silty shallow waters, and the corals displaced to deeper areas,” he lamented.
“In Janao Bay, whenever there’s renovation or construction, time and again we’ve called out people throwing everything in the waters because it’s convenient,” he said.
Lack of awareness, concern
Ocampo said there’s also a lack of awareness and concern for some in the tourism industry, such in indiscriminate anchoring, using as an excuse the lack of mooring buoys.
“For dive guides, manipulation of subjects and the substrate for their clients to photograph cryptic creatures is also a persistent issue. In some areas, this practice is banned and violators are sanctioned,” he said.
“As I’ve always said: why harm or kill the very subjects you’re trying to take photos of? As divers, we are privileged to see what’s underwater so we should be ambassadors of these underwater wonders and practice ethical and responsible photography and behavior underwater,” he said.
Free diving, coral propagation
He said it is a good thing that the new ordinance covers regulation on free diving, which is now attracting a lot of enthusiasts.
He noted that some issues happened recently involving free divers, who attached their lines to corals or even dragged their lines with weights on corals.
“The guidelines to regulate and ensure that those teaching/coaching enthusiasts will hopefully prevent future accidents and impacts on marine life,” he said.
According to Ocampo, there should also be regulation on projects that involve corals, such as propagation, transplantation, nurseries, and the like.
“Some projects lead to the death of corals instead of helping in regenerating coral reefs. Some of the failed projects can be seen in Janao Bay and other areas,” he pointed out.
Fishing as a way of life
Fishing as a way of life is still profitable to a few who still fish in Mabini.
Some people still fish for pelagics, such as tuna, marlin, and jacks, Ocampo said.
However, he said the catch is declining like in other areas of the country.
“I used to see more than 10 small boats dragging long lines in Janao Bay whenever tuna schools are spotted. But I have not seen these boats in the past couple of years,” he said.
According to Ocampo, commercial fishing is also a problem.
He said the side facing Balayan Bay has detections of lights now and then from satellite as shared on the Karagatan Patrol Platform.
“Balayan Bay should not be an area for commercial fishing. The small commercial fishing boats in the area have been an issue for municipal fisherfolk since they still enter the bay to fish for small pelagics. There’s also a closed season in Balayan Bay for small pelagics,” he said.
Image credits: Danny Ocampo