Batangas: Verde Island Passage recognized as center of marine biodiversity in the world

I have never tried diving yet although I have always wanted to. And obviously, with so much marine biodiversity in the Philippines, I'm missing a lot. The closest thing I've ever done was walk a few meters from the shore in full scuba gear during a high school class outing in the Eagle Point Resort in Batangas. We also got to snorkel off the coast of Anilao, close to Maricaban and Sombrero Islands. But that was it.

Which is why I was encouraged further when I found out that the Verde Island Passage, which was just a few kilometers away, is now recognized by scientists as "the center of the center of the center of the world's marine shore fish biodiversity."

Just to give everyone a backgrounder on the title, the Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape is recognized by the scientific community as the center of the highest concentration of marine biodiversity in the world. Occupying an area of 900,000 square kilometers in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, it is "at the heart of the coral triangle which accounts for 50 percent of the world’s coral reefs," a Philippine Daily Inquirer article reported.

Comparative studies of marine concentration in the Indo-Malaya-Philippines archipelago show that central Philippines, which includes the Tubattaha Reef, a UNESCO world heritage site, is the center of that center of marine biodiversity. It was American marine biologist Kent Carpenter of the World Conservation Union, and fellow researcher Victor Springer of the Smithsonian Institution who discovered in 2004 that the center of the center of marine shore fish biodiversity in the world was the Philippines, and not Indonesia.

And it was determined that the center of the center of the center of that marine biodiversity was the Verde Island Passage corridor, which was found to have the largest concentration of marine life in the world with a recorded 1,736 overlapping marine species in a 10 by 10 kilometer area. Verde Island is thus dubbed by scientists as "the world’s blue water version of the Amazon River basin."

For more information, check out the article RP world center of marine treasures. Looks like I'll consider diving in the near future. Hehe! (Photos from Scott Tuason; Diving in the Philippines and Yvette Lee, PDI)

Pampanga: San Fernando heritage program recognized anew

I was elated to find out that the "Preserving Heritage for Progress" program of the City Government of San Fernando, Pampanga which I initiated in 2001 won its third award last October 6! The Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP) selected the program as the winner of the Heritage Tourism Award of the Best Tourism Practices – Special Award Category "in cognizance of the innovative and valuable effort, passion and commitment of the City Government to ensure the protection and promotion of the City's priceless architectural heritage by restoring and preserving the same for the benefit of the future generation of Fernandinos and the Filipino people."

Mayor Oscar S. Rodriguez and City Tourism Officer Ching Pangilinan received the award in behalf of the local government from Tourism Secretary Joseph "Ace" Durano and Tarlac Representative Gilbert Teodoro at awarding ceremonies held during the 7th ATOP National Convention in Koronadal City, South Cotabato. There were only two winners for the Special Award category, the other being the Environment and Sports Tourism Award given to Benguet's "Mount Pulag Climb."

The "Preserving Heritage for Progress" program was recognized in 2004 by the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) as one of its" Top 10 Best Practices" and by the Galing Pook Foundation as one of the "Trailblazing Programs" of the year. (Photo on the right by Karlo de Leon)

Updates: The Pyestang Tugak - 4th Annual San Fernando Frog Festival was postponed to October 23 and 24. I was supposed to blog about it today. Oh well! For information on schedules, contact the City Tourism Division at (045) 9615684.

I also had to cancel all my local travel plans this month. And to think I was already looking forward to some whitewater rafting in Kalinga! Sayang! But the reason behind the cancellations are even more exciting travel plans. Hehe! So watch out for it in the coming week or two.

Seminar on Philippine towns and cities

The Heritage Conservation Society (HCS), in collaboration with the Urban Partnerships Foundation, and the University of the Philippines History Department, is organizing Philippine Towns & Cities: reflections of the past, lessons for the future, a seminar which aims to promote heritage conservation as a strategy for urban development and revitalization that will redound to local socioeconomic growth.

A strategic starting point for this is to document the history and evolution of Philippine human settlements – how and why they were established, planned, developed, and grew in the manner that they have and in the places where they are.

From this documentation, lessons can be extracted that can help guide policies and approaches for the planning and management of future urban development and revitalization with a strong heritage conservation component.

For registration and further information, please contact:
Ms. Dorie Soriano (Heritage Conservation Society; Tel.: 521-2239; Email: hcs_secretariat@yahoo.com)
Mrs. Virginia R. Rodriguez (The Urban Partnerships Foundation; Tel: 895-1812/896-1902; Email: deinsiedel.upf@gmail.com)