The sorry state of Talisay's Lagundi Reef

"Generally, the coral reefs serve as sources of food like fishes and invertebrates and even medicine."

CEBU, Philippines -  This is what the Department of Environment and Natural Resources 7 (DENR) pointed out in its May 2009 assessment report of Talisay City's Lagundi Reef. It also further noted that the Philippine coral reefs host 488 coral species, more than 2,000 species of fish, 5,000 species of clams, snails and other mollusks, 981 species of bottom-living algae and thousands of other marine organisms.

"It is estimated that 1 square kilometer of healthy corals can produce up to 20 tons of fish per year. Destroyed reefs on the other hand only produce less than four tons of fish per square kilometer per year," the report said.

This is the reason why the 10th Congress passed The Fisheries Act of 1998 for the purpose of "achieving food security" for the country's population, as highlighted in Section 2 of this law.

Article 1 Section 16 of the Fisheries Act further states that the "municipal/city government, in consultation with the FARMC (Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council) shall be responsible for the management, conservation, development, protection, utilization, and disposition of all fish and fishery/aquatic resources within their respective municipal waters."

And as mandated by this law, also in its aim to have the next dive destination in its backyard, the Talisay City government in 2006 revived the Lagundi Reef, an almost three-hectare marine protected area (MPA) in Barangay Poblacion, which fell victim to all sorts of illegal fishing, including those that involved dynamite. The Lagundi Reef was then considered by divers as "fortunate" to have escaped most of the damage, unlike its sisters - the Makatol Reef in Barangay Tangke, and the Pungaton Reef in Barangay Pooc, also in Talisay City, which are already in rubbles.

It was then City Councilor Shirley Belleza, being head of the Tourism Committee, who spearheaded the rehabilitation of the Lagundi Reef. In October of 2007, over a year since the rehabilitation activities had started, the city government, in a grand ceremony attended by top honchos in the diving industry and the government, launched to the public the said MPA, which was dubbed by professional divers "an underwater garden" for its healthy and various types of corals. A City Ordinance was then passed setting dive fees and other charges for the use of the Lagundi Reef.

"We're looking forward to the income, but we also have to consider the protection and the preservation of this sanctuary that we've worked so hard for during the last several months," said Belleza during the launch.

But even before the city could regain even a portion of its expenses from the rehabilitation, the launching ceremony, among others, in March 2009, a Chinese cargo ship MV Majuro, ran aground on this underwater garden.

Several corals were destroyed, some endangered species, as later on found out by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), were also killed in the incident. The lack of marine buoys around the MPA, which should have warned all vessels coming to and from the neighboring port area in Cebu City, was blamed for what had happened. The city government, sometime in 2007, had installed floaters and four floating guardhouses in Lagundi, but the former were reportedly stolen by local fishers while the guardhouses were destroyed during that year's storm. They were not replaced.

BFAR assessed the damage to be about 3,800 square meters of the entire reef, totaling to almost P1 million in claims if the city were to bill MV Majuro. The city, however, did not charge the alleged violator. Police had, however, put to jail its shipmaster overnight, but released him after he paid the P5,000 fine and a $10,000 donation to the city government. The P5,000 is the city's maximum fine as provided for in its Lagundi Ordinance for the coral damage.

For killing some endangered clams and various types of hard corals, the police still charged shipmaster Chen Guangming for alleged violation of Republic Act No. 9147 or the Wildlife Protection Act before the City Prosecutor's Office.  But the complaint was dismissed after the city government failed to submit evidence to support the claims. Since then the city had not made any move to file a case against Chen. Section 28 of RA 9147 stipulates that an offender of this law shall be meted imprisonment of a minimum of six years and one day to 12 years and/or a fine of P100,000 to P1,000,000.

Environmental lawyer Ben Cabrido, who believed that the ship and its captain was liable for the incident, said the Talisay City government should not have released MV Majuro and Chen so it still had a jurisdiction over them. But since the local government did, the ship and its master are now outside the city's territory, and, as a result, the city lost its case.

"The LGU should have sued it, assessed the damage... But they shortened out the process," the lawyer said. Cabrido's group filed a query before the Office of the Visayas-Ombudsman on the incident, but that was also considered moot as the ship and Chen were released even before an investigation was launched.

For her part, Belleza, who is now based in New York, said the $10,000 donation is not enough payment for the destruction brought by the Chinese vessel to the Lagundi Reef.

"Sa pagkatinuod lang, dili gyud kabayran og 10K lang ang damage sa Lagundi. We have official assessments and documentation to prove that. Ang problema mao: 1) Nganong wala man gyud mo-file ang Talisay ug kaso against MV Majuro? Mahal ang filing fee? But Lagundi is far more worth than that not to pursue the case," said Belleza, in an online chat-interview.

"You know that it is a potent marine resource, mao bitaw nang tapuk-an na diha sa mga mananagat kay kahibawo sila nga naay daghang isda diha. Klaro kaayo nga nakasala ang MV Majuro, the least that could happen is: ma-reduce tingali ilang bayranan if they use clever lawyers," she added.

"Are there moves now to preserve Lagundi? Wa ba pasagdi ron sa local government? Yes, it will take years for these corals to grow again. In the past, magpakilimos ko ug pan nga bahaw sa Julie's (Bakeshop) para ilawog sa isda kada semana para modaghan ang isda and it did! Wa man go'y mamotar diha, okoy ra man! Way ganahan diha," Belleza said.

As of this writing, the city had made no move to put up buoys around the reef for its protection from another destruction and even from fishing, as MPAs are non-fishing grounds.

Alfie Fernandez, a SCUBA diver and a member of the environment group Knight-Stewards of the Sea, Inc., said the Lagundi Reef is "very much different now from what it was" before the MV Majuro had hit it."

"From 2006 to early 2009, Lagundi was a beauty. I could say if the city had continued its rehabilitation and protection, they would have earned from it by now," said Fernandez.

Fernandez was among the volunteer divers commissioned by the city in the early stages of rehabilitating the reef. His group's work was, however, cut short for some reason, and it was reportedly political.

An assessment report from DENR 7, obtained by The Freeman, stated that the reef is 48.5 percent or in "fair condition." It also, however, added that 31.1 percent of the life forms found there are composed of dead corals with algae, while 1.5 percent are "white dead corals." The assessment was made in May 2009. The report, which was submitted to the Talisay City government, also reminded the city that coral reefs grow slowly, from a few millimeters to several centimeters per year depending on the species. Once these are destroyed, "it may take 10-50 years for a coral reef to recover from damage such as caused by dynamite and poison fishing... some do not recover at all," the report said.

The purpose of coral assessment of the coral reefs by each percentage cover in a local government unit is to "alert the local officials to show their concern to conserve and to rehabilitate it."

Cabrido said since the city let the ship "escape from its clutches" it is now the city government's "responsibility" to rehabilitate Lagundi. "They are required to restore it," he said.

Between 2009 and today, a lot of changes have happened to what used to be an underground beauty. Fernandez, who still helps in clean up activities in Lagundi, said that during a dive a month ago, he noticed several corals have been destroyed in what he believed was from boat anchors haphazardly clamped there. He said he even removed one he saw still anchored at a hard coral. And, at least five fishing boats were inside the MPA, he said.

Fernandez, who lives in the coastal area of Poblacion, said before 2009, there was enough fish for the city's local fishermen and their families, which number over a thousand being a coastal area. After the tragedy, however, plus, the city's failure to enforce its environmental laws especially those governing MPAs, illegal fishing became a common scene at the Lagundi. Fernandez said it did not take long when he heard that fish catch became less and less everyday.

Fishermen from nearby Sitio Letmon, Barangay Poblacion attested to this claim.

Felimon Lucero and Ramon Sabequil, in an interview with The Freeman, admitted that they could not feed their families if they stuck within the city's municipal waters. Both admitted they go to as far as Bohol just to bring home enough to feed their starving families.

"The only way to sustain food security and enough fish catch for the people is to preserve and protect these reefs," Fernandez said. He pointed out that even areas like Cordova, which owns the Hilutongan Reef, and other lower-class municipalities are able to do it, "why not Talisay when it has all the money to do so?"

In July 2011, three fishermen from Barangay Biasong, Talisay City were arrested for illegal fishing in the municipal waters of Minglanilla, a town next to Talisay. There were also the same reports in Cordova and Bohol province, which prompted the council to pass a resolution asking both local governments to allow fishermen from Talisay to fish on its territories.

During Belleza's time as chairman of the Tourism Committee the council had allocated P300,000 as annual budget for the Lagundi Reef. Today, Councilor Bernard Odilao, chairman of the Environment Committee, said the budget is around P500,000, but is embedded in the Tourism allocation. The Tourism Committee is headed by another city official, Vice Mayor Alan Bucao.

But Odilao said even if he has no control of the budget, he had already made a request to install floaters at the Lagundi, and in Pungaton Reef and Makatol Reef. He said his request would use the $10,000, which was placed in trust fund. As of this writing, however, Odilao said his request was still pending, as Anthony "Bobong" Nator, the person he had commissioned to assess what things to purchase, has yet to submit a list of the things needed for the project. The city council approved the release of the funds last January.

Odilao, who is in his last term as city councilor, however, admitted that he sees problems with the fisherfolks, too, as they "refuse to cooperate" with the government. He assured to meet them soon to remind them of the laws while his floaters and a guardhouse have yet to be purchased and installed in Lagundi. He also admitted that the city's Bantay Dagat, the Fishermen Sea Ecological Care (Fiseca), which is stationed in the coastal barangay of Cansojong, is also "inutile" as of the moment, as their three boats, which are used for patrolling, are all "disabled."

"They already made a request at the GSO (General Services Office) for repair but until now they have not acted on it," said Odilao. And while Fiseca's 15 men could only watch from afar as fishers are doing their illegal acts in Lagundi, Odilao assured they will just do more clean up activities every now and then to make sure that fishing nets and other wastes are removed from the reef.

Fernandez, however, said although clean ups would greatly help, rehabilitation by installing buoys and regular sea wardens in Lagundi, is the best option to save the reef.

"The Lagundi Reef can still be helped. But it has to be right now. It's an urgent matter, the city should know that," Fernandez said. -/QSB (FREEMAN)