Crisis becomes opportunity

The oil spill off Guimaras almost two years ago was tragic. For days it hogged the headlines on how bad it was for the environment but most of all, on how it deprived the fishermen of their livelihood. The Visayas sea is rich fishing ground and supplies fish around the country. The scale of the tragedy was hard to fathom but as with most tragic events that make the headlines, interest in these soon peter out and little is reported on what followed after.

The tanker M/T Solar 1 was carrying tons of oil to be delivered to Petron. It was an accident to be regretted but someone had to take the responsibility to save and restore whatever could be saved and restored after the tragedy.

With P50 million from the Arroyo government and another P3 million from the oil company, a team was set up to begin what seemed impossible: clean the oil spill and restore the fishermen’s livelihood in the area.

The livelihood project was done through teamwork between the provincial government of Guimaras, Municipality of Nueva Valencia, Citigroup Foundation/Citi Philippines and Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC). Their aim was to create a viable long term assistance to the fishermen. It has done more than that. Mariculture livelihood program has become a model for coastal development and will eventually spread out to other coastal areas. I was told by a SEAFDEC official that the crisis was in a sense an ironic blessing in disguise, Experts predict that eventually, even if the oil spill did not happen, the fishermen would have had difficulty fishing for livelihood because the fish stocks were depleting faster than they could be naturally replenished. Today, the fisherfolks of Guimaras are ready for that eventuality with their milkfish raising model farms.

Although the model farm was within the SEAFDEC facilities in Barangay Igang, Nueva Valencia, other beneficiaries of the pilot program are Barangays Igang, Bagamay, San Antonio. Some 170 fisherfolks from Barangay San Antonio and 90 from the other barangays participated. The course was a hands-on training on milkfish cage culture systems. They learned stock sampling, water quality, fish health management and cage maintenance. This was coupled with harvesting and marketing of their products. At the end of the course with the fisherfolks’ newly acquired skills they grossed 26,311kilos worth P2.46 million which is higher than they would have had if they relied merely on fishing from the sea.

Two fisherfolk organizations (Samahan ng Mahihirap na mangingisda ng San Antonio and Samahan ng Maliliit na Mangingisda ng San Antonio) are part of the milkfish project.

They tackled the problem of pilfering by assigning one person to “take care” of the stocks for 12 hours on a rotation basis. They also learned the business side of it and how to share the benefits of the venture among themselves.

The livelihood program has empowered the people who live in the coastal areas. With their new-found skills they have become responsible co-managers of the coastal resources. They now have a core group that is expected to help others gain the skills they learned and eventually create an integrated coastal management.

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More interestingly the livelihood program was not the only offshoot of the Guimaras oil spill disaster. The same government-private sector cooperation was behind a P7-million Petron Library Hub for education and a comprehensive human development program for the school children in this island province. The library is in Barangay San Miguel. President Arroyo herself came to open the library with former Petron chairman and chief executive officer Nicasio Alcantara and president Khalid Al-Faddagh at the time. The library now caters to all 99 public elementary schools in this province through their principals, teachers or administrators who borrow books and other educational materials in bulk for up to 30 days.

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The President asked the team to establish an internet connectivity program for the 17 public high schools in the province. The project was ongoing when my late husband, former Ambassador Alberto A. Pedrosa was still a director of Petron. His dream came true but he did not live long enough to see its benefits to the youth of Guimaras. On my part, I told PLDT DSL executives (who provided the connectivity) and the Microsoft (donated the software) how deeply he regarded this project. I remember him waking up early one morning to catch a flight and see the project, being a computer buff himself.

The computer literacy program will go a long way. Indeed, it is too far to predict its benefits to the people of Guimaras. It was a former Indian lady ambassador who once told me how surprised she was to know that every Indian Nobel prize awardee was schooled in provinces. It was a mystery that with so little going for them, provincial students are more resourceful and creative. That could also be the promise of the now computerized and interconnected schools in Guimaras.

MISCELLANY. From my indefatigable friend Cecile Alvarez of NCCA: “We are holding a Creativity Summit on Cultural Care-giving on the UN MDGS. It involves the plenary conference, the workshops, the exhibition, the indigenous creative industry fair and the festival as well as outreach presentations on Sining Gising (NBN 4) and Radyo Balintataw (DZRH). Please help draw attention to this event organized in line with the President’s Proclamation 1262 “declaring May 21-21 as UNESCO-ITI World Theatre Week.” The performances at WOW Intramuros from the 25th to the 27th of March are all for free including those at Fort Santiago on the 28th and the 29th of March.

From the Supreme Court comes an invitation to a Forum on Environmental Justice: Upholding the Right to a Balanced and Healthful Ecology on 16 - 17 April 2009. It will be held simultaneously through videoconferencing at University of the Cordilleras (Baguio City), University of the Philippines Visayas (Iloilo City), and Ateneo de Davao University (Davao City). The forum will be an ideal activity as a run-up to Earth Day on 22 April 2009.