Turtle Town

Last weekend, while everyone was fretting over a political standoff in Manila, denizens of Morong, Bataan could not be fazed as they prepped for their very own Pawikan Festival.

Kicking off with a walk for a cause, the festival was led by environmental groups and tourists who gamely paraded through the sleepy town, donned in bright green shirts that scream of messages of sea turtle conservation.

Endangered marine turtles locally known as "pawikan" have found a safe haven in this province. For the past years, the Bantay Pawikan and the Morong local government have been mounting the Pawikan Festival to raise awareness about their conservation efforts.

Likewise, the Bataan Tourism Council Foundation, together with the Provincial Tourism Office and the Department of Tourism (DoT), are helping the Pawikan Conservation Center in gathering funds for its continuous development and rehabilitation. The Bantay Pawikan Inc. hopes that this symbolic celebration will bring sustainable progress to Bataan in terms of safeguarding its natural environment and unifying the locals under the preservation program.

Pawikan haven

Every year, many tourists flock to this sanctuary in Morong during the nesting season and especially during the Pawikan Festival to be able to get a chance to watch turtles come up to the shore at night and lay eggs.

The week-long festival featured a nature camp, sports competitions, art contests, seminars and exhibitions, beach activities such as sand-sculpture-making and kite-flying, and a street-dancing competition participated in by high school students.

Hundreds of people took part in the march aimed at gathering more support to save the endangered sea turtle species. They were joined in later by a number of children during the release of the hatchlings out to the South China Sea. But before its release, the pawikan is first tagged so that if it reaches other countries, its place of origin can be identified.

Visitors also participated in the "Adopt-a-Turtle" program. For a minimum fee, one gets to personally hold and release a baby pawikan into the sea. The funds generated will help in sustaining the project and the livelihood of the fishing community.

From poachers to conservationalists

The protection of nesting turtles, collection and hatching of eggs and finally the release of hatchlings are done through the collective efforts of the members of the Bantay Pawikan Inc., a volunteer group composed mostly of residents of Barangay Nagbalayong, a small fishing village in Morong.

Being one of the nesting sites of marine turtles in the Philippines, the location is now a community–based livelihood and a sea turtle conservation project. Started in 1999, after concerned environmental groups composed of the Department of Natural Resources (DENR) and Bantay Kalikasan discovered that fisher folk and farmers supplement their earnings by gathering turtle eggs. The eggs, which are just the size of golf balls, were being sold at less than P10 each.

Alarmed over the poaching of turtle eggs, the group organized meetings with the local fishermen, and an information campaign on the importance of turtles in marine ecosystem was mounted. The fishermen then formed Bantay Pawikan Inc. These fishermen and farmers have been converted from poachers and turtle egg collectors to staunch marine conservationists.

The conservation project was initially funded by the United Nations Development Grants Programme. In 2001, the Pawikan Center was established in Nagbalayong and in 2005, the Embassy of Japan in Manila under Ambassador Ryuichiro Yamazaki signed a $ 52,311 grant to the Bantay Pawikan project. Through the grant, the group was able to purchase a rescue vehicle, fishing equipment, and construct a storage facility.

Of the seven turtle species in the world, namely: the Olive Ridley; the Kemp Ridley; the Hawksbill; the Green Turtle; the Flatback; the Loggerhead; and the Leatherback — five species are found in the country. And out of those five species, two frequent the shores of Bataan as their nesting grounds -- the Olive Ridley and the Hawksbill. Being the smallest of the turtle species, Olive Ridleys are on the top of the endangered list.

The continued destruction of the pawikan, from the gathering of their eggs for human consumption to the catching of the matured turtles for decorative and other purposes, coupled with their very low survival rate of only one percent, pushed these migratory animals into the brink of extinction.

Nesting season

Volunteers of Bantay Pawikan comb the beach at night during the nesting season of September to February. Once they find turtle eggs, they transfer them to the protected hatching sites. When the young turtles emerge from the sand after 45 to 60 days, they are then released back to the sea. As the hatchlings slowly make their way into the water, they get an imprint of the surrounding magnetic field in their brain. After 30 to 50 years, the turtles come back to the same location of its birth, to mate and lay eggs and start a new cycle. To date, the project has saved and released about 40,000 baby turtles.

With the growing involvement of the locals, soon all turtles coming to Bataan’s beaches will be assured of protected nesting.

HOW TO GET TO THERE: From the Genesis Bus Terminal along EDSA in Cubao, ride a bus going to Balanga City. Operating hours are from 3 a.m. to 9 p.m. From Balanga, one can ride a mini–bus or jeepney to Morong. For more information, log on to www.bataan.gov.ph or e-mail tourism_bataan@yahoo.com.