MANILA BULLETIN ARTICLE
By Cynthia Sumasagaysay Del Rosario
July 19, 2015
Behind the postcard perfect picture we often see is a beleaguered province fighting to keep big, bad businesses from exploiting what’s left of its natural resources.
There must be a reason why I was born and raised in Palawan. I am a Palaweña, an island girl by heart. I have worked, lived, and traveled abroad, but I always go back to the simple, basic, and necessary. All life events lead to a particular moment, in my case, to this moment of writing. Countless articles have already been written about Palawan. Its natural beauty has captivated the likes of known explorer Jacques Cousteau, it has supposedly inspired the writings of The Beach novelist Alex Garland, and it has charmed thousands of other travelers worldwide catapulting Palawan into the “World’s Best Island” fame.
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| Sunset in El Nido, Palawan |
The truth is, I hesitate to write about my hometown because it will not be the usual pretty. A little voice told me that it might be a waste of ink and paper, your time and my time. That even if I say in paper what I have to say, it won’t change certain things and some issues will remain—our politician leaders will still go ahead in pursuit of progress and development without taking into account the more sustainable path for Palawan; the environmental laws already in place will still not be fully implemented and effective enough to stop any further degradation of the environment of Palawan; it will not stop the big companies from plundering and extracting the rich minerals underneath the soils of Palawan in the name of profit; and some people will not even give a damn after reading this.
Palawan is known as the “Last Ecological Frontier of the Philippines.” What does that mean at this point when people are bombarded with a lot of news and information that something so important, its novelty gone, is likely to skip one’s attention? “Last frontier,” has this now become some trite, mediocre tourism label? Palawan is a unique place—so special in fact that a special law, Republic Act 7611, otherwise known as the Strategic Environmental Plan for Palawan Act (or “SEP Law”), was passed to supposedly protect it. Supposedly.
A DUBIOUS PATH
In 1990, UNESCO declared Palawan as a “Man and Biosphere Reserve,” and in 1992, the “SEP Law” was passed. It also created the implementing body, the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD). Everything seemed to be in place. The landmark legislation appeared to be an added, extra measure to protect the precious environment of Palawan. After all, Palawan was also declared by the world’s scientific community as the Earth’s fourth most irreplaceable area for endangered species and two UNESCO World Heritage Sites can be found here: the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Marine Park and the Puerto Princesa Underground River. There is a high concentration of endangered species in this one place alone, making Palawan a hotspot for species conservation on the planet."
In the morning of May 28, PCSD rendered its approval to the much opposed and controversial coal plant. This was the third attempt of DMCI to have its coal plant approved by obtaining the needed SEP clearance from PCSD. For the past three years, the people of Barangays Panacan in Narra and San Juan in Aborlan had strongly opposed the DMCI project. Palawan was beset with constant power outages for several months and this has enabled DMCI and the provincial government to convince people that the coal plant was urgently needed. But vigilance coming from the civil society, the local NGOs, and media has helped in exposing the real power supply situation. The truth is made known to the people that the main cause of the power outages is DMCI itself because it has not provided the entire contracted capacity of 25 MW of diesel and 5 MW of “spinning reserve” that it was supposed to provide since 2012.
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| Mono cropping of Palm oil plantations. |
Also only recently, the local NGOs discovered that PCSD already granted Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation an approval for its mining expansion in Mount Bulanjao in Bataraza, a protected area and a “core zone.” Under the SEP rules and regulations, “core zones” are identified as areas which should not be open for extractive and development activities. The island province is endowed with rich mineral resources like gold, nickel, copper, cobalt, and chromite. There is a proliferation of mining activities in southern Palawan.
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| Illegal logging leading to deforestation |
These instances show the dubious path that Palawan is currently treading. Despite the existence of enough laws and policies, their implementation will still depend on just a few people. Unfortunately, these people seem to have a different view of what sustainability means—they view the resources of Palawan as infinite. The Malampaya natural gas will run out soon; a recent news said that there are only nine years left for the gas to run out. Mining is not sustainable, too; horrible stories of mining companies leaving the community poor after leeching their area dry of all its resources are all too common now.
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| Uncontrolled pillage of natural rivers once rife with life, for gravel and river rock for new construction. |
Palawan has an abundance of renewable energy sources: There are enough hydropower sites to power the island for the long future. An energy masterplan was already crafted to give people the cheapest and most viable energy alternative, the one that is right for Palawan. The right implementation will again lie, however, in the hands of a few.
And so I still write despite my earlier hesitancy. It may not change things instantly now but it will still matter to the future generations of Palaweños.
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| Selling off our marine sanctuary for a man made Ocean park. |
Sources:
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) Identification of Biodiversity Hotspot UNESCO http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/ecological-sciences/biosphere-reserves/asia-and-the-pacific/philippines/palawan/
CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL PCSD
The author is a graduate of AB Political Science of the Ateneo de Manila University and a volunteer spokesperson of the Palawan Alliance for Clean Energy (PACE). She is also the founder of the Book Bridge project in Palawan. She used to be a legal assistant in Kirkland & Ellis LLP in downtown Los Angeles after completing the UCLA Extension’s Paralegal Training Program. (Cynthia Sumagaysay Del Rosario)
HOW RICH IS PALAWAN?
Palawan has…
105 out of the 475 threatened species in the Philippines. 42 are Palawan endemics.
379 species of corals; 82% of the total coral species recorded in the entire country
90% of the known mangrove species in the country, distributed in 44,500 hectares of mangrove forests, the highest remaining mangrove cover in the Philippines.
89% of total reef fish recorded in the country
4 of 5 marine turtles
15 of the 25 marine mammals in the country
18 endemic freshwater fish
26 endemic amphibians
16 endemic terrestrial mammals
69 species of reptiles
279 species of birds
15 lakes, 42 ponds, 44 waterfalls, 72 natural springs, 9 mineral springs, 28 principal rivers, 43 streams, and 165 creeks identified as potential sources of water for domestic consumption and irrigation
At least 1,700 plant species
