Improving Resources and Coastal Environment in Balayan, Batangas

ANAKBALAYAN’s collaborative approach in promoting environmental education has gaining

results in the municipality.

Information and education campaigns made in schools, groups, and coastal communities
which was started in the 2nd quarter of 2006 up to the present made children aware of
environmental and resources concerns. The effects can be relatively seen and observed during
ordinary days when children are in the shorelines and in the community.
 Resource and coastal environment improvements have been part of student activities aside
from their academics. Student groups such as Youth for Environment and Society Organizations
(YES-O) from secondary schools in the municipality included forestation activities in their
program plan. Schools also signify their willingness to participate in any resources and coastal
environment activities of ANAKBALAYAN. In communications to the federation, Balayan
National High School and San Piro National High School requested ANAKBALAYAN that they
may be linked to offices or establishments for trees and mangroves seedlings for their
forestation activities and that they may participate to the federation resources and coastal
improvement activities.

With informations on global warming, climate change and resources depletion,

communities are now much eager to share their efforts to revert the phenomenon.

At the community level, residents are now aware of the importance of biodiversity. Two
male resident of Brgy. 9 while drinking liquor at the shore noticed a pawikan presumed to be
searching for her nest to lay its egg. The residents guarded the animal till early morning and
bought it to the office of the federation for necessary actions. ANAKBALAYAN communicated to
CENRO whose employee put a tag and release the pawikan. This happened in December of
2007. A month after, a resident of Brgy. San Piro also noticed crawling creatures behind his
home. 66 hatchlings of pawikan were taken to the office of the federation by the finder. Upon
communication with CENRO and PAWIKAN, ANAKBALAYAN together with the municipal fishery
technician released the hatchlings to the same place they were hatched till all gone to the sea.
Last December 26, 2008, three fishermen from Brgy. 10 saw another pawikan crawling near
“Walkbay”, a new place for leisure and anticipated to be a tourist attraction of the municipality.
It was communicated to the fishery law enforcement team, the bantay-dagat then bought it to
the office of the federation. It should be released that night, however the fishery technician
who is directly supervising the team asked the tanods to wait till morning after they have
presented it to CENRO. The pawikan was released the next morning.

The federation is a recipient of a project grant in support of multisectoral

partnership building for the sustainable development of the municipal waters of
Balayan, under the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP)-PEMSEA joint communiqué.

With the partnership building activities the federation has worked, establishments are
now extending their support to resources and coastal environment. During the culmination of
International coastal CleanUp in September of 2008, Motortrade-Balayan, a motorbike dealer in
the municipality joined hands in the federation program of improving Binambang River.
 Said establishment is an additional to the ongoing partners of the federation, Jollibee-Balayan
and BCFTPP. The latter provided funds for the federation member (BDSFA) artificial reef project
in March of 2008.

After the training on pollution data gathering, made in 2nd quarter of 2007, quarter
monitoring of water quality of Balayan Municipal Waters was conducted up to the present.
 With the able support of the PG-ENRO, Batangas Environmental Laboratory Office helped
ANAKBALAYAN to analyze the water samples.

The result were discussed in the community through group discussions, member organization
meetings, and local government units visits.

Such discussions resulted to cleanup programs of the community headed by the local
government units. The activities are monitored and documented by the federation. In some
instances where time and availability is free leaders of the federation whether or not they are
resident of that community participates in the activity.

Municipal mayor Emmanuel Fronda while monitoring the coastal areas.

 These efforts are intended for the improvement of lives in the coastal communities and
preservation of our natural wealth- the resources. To gauge the impact, ANAKBALAYAN
continuously monitor the fisher folk condition through actual interviews, community visits, the
fishery productivity through Fish Stock Assessments and the resources through actual survey
and inventory.
 Data, initiatives and results are stored at the federation Resource Information Center at its
office in Tolentino Boulevard, Barangay District #10, Balayan, Batangas. Currently these data
are being put to database as inspired by PEMSEA’s IIMS. The federation is trying to modify the
system to suit the local community capacity to store data by building a local data management
program in local language and excluding tables and fields of national, regional and provincial
concerns.