After a long day’s journey, Pangangan (pronounced as pan-ga-ngan) Island in the Bohol Peninsula is a real treat for the tired traveler. Finding it is like opening a gift. First, you traverse a causeway lined with lush mangrove stands on each side. Then, you step onto a makeshift boardwalk that leads you to a cluster of native cottages.
From here, you can see the surrounding blue sea and feel the gentle breeze touching your very soul. This is the coastal barangay of Lawis, Pangangan Island, a model project in Coastal Resource Management (CRM) program of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Pangangan Island is under the administrative jurisdiction of the municipality of Calape. It can be reached through a 45-minute travel by land from Tagbilaran City. Lawis is one of Calape’s eight barangays whose inhabitants rely heavily on fishing and agriculture for livelihood.
From Brgy. San Isidro, one can reach the island through a 3.8-kilometer causeway that connects it to the Calape mainland. This causeway is in itself a living proof of the community’s solidarity, having been constructed by no less than the residents themselves.
The pristine waters of the island’s coastal can be seen and felt, upon traversing the boardwalk rented out by the Lawis people’s organization, and relaxing in one of their native cottages you can feel the beauty and serenity of the Bohol Strait. The construction of the cottages and the boardwalk is the organization’s first venture into eco-tourism.
Dindo Taganas, a fisherman, is the president of Lawis Farmer’s and Fisherman’s Association (LAFFA) with 120 members. He narrated how their local barangay (Lawis) and the people stood up against dynamite fishing activities that threatened their very own source of livelihood.
According to Taganas, some unscrupulous people from as far as Cebu were engaged in dynamite fishing in Pangangan Island before the Coastal Environment Program (CEP) was introduced in 1994 by the DENR. This consequently led to the degradation of their coral reefs and a decline in their fish catch.
Their organization LAFFA was born in 1994. This was after the DENR had launched community organizing efforts aimed at empowering the people to manage their coastal resources. Participatory coastal resource assessment techniques were imparted to them resulting in the people’s recognition of the importance of their coastal resources in their day-to-day undertakings.
The DENR-led program also provided trainings and capacity building on enterprise development, coastal law enforcement, resource assessment and protection, mangrove management, establishment of marine protected areas, and eco-tourism. Some members of LAFFA became actively involved in their barangay’s efforts in protecting their coastal resources from illegal fishing as members of Bantay Dagat. Bantay Dagat is a collaborative coastal law enforcement arm of the DENR, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine National Police and the local government units.
Prior to that, however, the DENR through its Coastal Environment Program had provided some P5,000 to P15,000 seed money to the various people’s organizations in Pangangan to start livelihood programs for their communities. Dindo’s organization, LAFFA, started with bigasan and livestock raising. The seed money increased to P35,000 after about two years. With good financial standing, the cooperative was able to get a loan of P150,000 from a local NGO, Bohol Integrated Development Foundation or BIDEF.
After sometime, they also ventured into money lending to cooperative members, hog dispersal, seaweed culture, cottage and boardwalk renting. Their latest venture, lobster culture is becoming to be the most promising endeavor of the community, considering the high price lobsters command, which is at least P1,400 per kilo. According to Dindo, an average lobster weighs around 1.5 kilo. In fact, according to him, from their initial harvest of only seven pieces of lobster, the cooperative earned P7,500.
Fish harvest has also increased after the establishment of a 13.5-hectare marine sanctuary in the area. Before the implementation of the coastal resource management program, they get an average of 10 kilos of fish using basing; now, they harvest 15 to 23 kilos.
Aside from fishing and farming, some members of the LAFFA are also into hog fattening, cottage renting, seaweeds culture and lobster farming.
"Para moasenso pa ang among marine resources kinahanglan nga magtinabangay ang mga katauhan sa pag-atiman, pagbabantay o pagproteksyon para molahutay ng mo-asinso ang ekonomiya sa among barangay," (To sustain the marine resources, we, should protect and care for them so we can help the economy of our barangay), remarked Dindo Taganas when asked about their future plans for Brgy. Lawis.
Indeed, Pangangan Island is now, not just a haven of peace and tranquility for its people and its visitors, it is also a refuse for fishes, a place that can give sustainable livelihood opportunities for the poor marginalized fisherfolks living in the coastal areas of Bohol.