Salonga Center’s A. Alviola Participates
in Prelim Activity for Bantayan Island MPA Project
May 8, 2009

Ms. Alviola conducting an interview for key informants  at the Hagdan barangay hall, Kinatarcan Island.

SCLD’s very own Ms. Andrea Alviola took part in a preliminary resource assessment activity that was held last April 13-17 in Sta. Fe, Bantayan Island, Cebu. The assessment is an important activity of the project “Establishing a Network of Marine Protected Areas in the Bantayan Island Group” that is jointly implemented by the Law of Nature Foundation’s School of the SEAs and Silliman University-Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental Management.  The project aims to establish and strengthen MPAs in Kinatarcan, Hilantagaan Daku, Hilantagaan Diyot, and Bantayan.

The four-day activity was based at the School of the SEAs at Ocoy Beach, Sta. Fe and it involved several people who were responsible for the following: Preliminary MPA Assessemnt, Exploratory Diving, and Community Assessment. Ms. Alviola was the head of the community assessment group, being the only volunteer with community organizing experience among the group.

Initial results of the group’s assessment indicate that many of the existing MPAs in the Bantayan island group need to be strengthened in terms of management.  Three new sites are also very suitable for MPA establishment in Brgy. San Agustin, Madridejos, in Kinatarcan and in the north-western part of Hilantagaan Daku.

Law of Nature Foundation’s Executive Director, Mr. Bonar Laureto, lauded Ms. Alviola for her tremendous contribution to the activity. “This activity would not have been a success without Ma’am Ging. We hope to have somebody like her to join us in this project, and we are looking forward to strengthening the ties with Silliman University in the future.”

The Bantayan MPA project is expected to be implemented until 2010, with an expansion to other parts of the Visayan Sea envisioned in the near future. 

          *The School of the SEAs (Sea and Earth Advocates) welcomes volunteers who are willing to help with this project. Please contact Ms. Alviola for details on how you can help.