DAUIN, NEGROS ORIENTAL – Life seemed a lot better for Apo Island’s barangay chair Liberty Pascobello-Rhodes before her involvement in the marine sanctuary in Dauin, Negros Oriental.

“When I started the project in 1983, everyone in Apo Island was angry at me,” Liberty says.

Raised as a fisherman’s daughter and having learned about the importance of corals a few years ago, she remained unfazed. She knew that it was hard for people to accept that they could no longer fish in an area classified as a protected habitat and, therefore, off limits to them.

Her persistence paid off, with the help of her brother Mario, who succeeded her as barangay chair until 2007.

Now, fishermen need not go far to catch fish as the seawater surrounding the 74-hectare Apo Island teems with marine life.

Top 10 diving sites

Apo offers some of the best diving areas that have made the island one of the country’s top 10 divers’ favorites. Its underwater world boasts of stunning hard and soft corals that serves as home and refuge to a diverse marine ecosystem.

In 1993, 1.5 hectares of the island was established as a sanctuary, enabling it to restore and preserve its ecosystem. At that time, its reefs were showing signs of decay.

Visitors, especially first-timers, love the colorful sea spectacle. Corals appear like skyscrapers in a submerged metropolis serving food and shelter to fish, giant clams, tomato clown fish, skunk anemone, damselfish, moray eel, catfish, tuna, hammerhead, jacks, marine turtles and manta rays.

The sanctuary project has become the world’s first model of a community-managed coral reef. Its success has attracted tourists from all over the world. Last year, they paid P3.6 million in entry, diving and anchorage fees to the island’s Protected Area Management Board.

New enemies

The people have gotten over their anger over Liberty’s experiment. But since she headed the barangay in October last year, she found herself facing new adversaries, including unscrupulous boat and tour operators ferrying tourists to the island.

“Now, the (owner of) resorts of Negros, Cebu and Bohol are angry at me. I feel like I’m a tiger surrounded by so many crocodiles,” she says.

For Liberty, the influx of tourists has brought more damage to the sanctuary.

“The first destination of divers is the clown fish city. There were so many clown fish back then that it really looked like a city. Now, I could barely count them. It’s no longer a city – it’s a subvillage,” she says.

Liberty, who operates one of the island’s two hotels and a dive shop, knows what she’s talking about.

While tourism helps boost the local economy, it adversely affects the environment. Liberty sees tourists stealing clown fish while some divers scrape the corals with their gear or, worse, by standing on them.

“That made me decide to focus my three-year term on further protecting the marine sanctuary,” she says.

To ensure the reef’s protection, Liberty formed two teams of dive rangers that she had certified as scuba divers, to check on tourist divers. They help ensure that the marine environment is kept as pristine as possible.

For instance, they discovered that the tourist boats have toilets but did not have holding tanks for wastes. So, Liberty tells her Bantay Dagat volunteers to board incoming vessels and explain the island’s tough rules.

“I told the boat operators that if they wanted to keep their jobs, they’d better help me keep this island clean,” she recalls.

The boats will be fined for each violation and will be banned from Apo Island after the third offense. Liberty says it’s such a small price to pay for a healthy environment.

As Apo’s most enterprising inhabitant, Liberty is not without critics who accuse her of simply promoting her business. “I tell them, yes, I admit I have a business. But my business will only survive if our environment survives. And if our environment survives, everyone survives.”

True enough, Liberty jealously guards the island’s natural resources as their lives depend on them. As her business motto says, “if they (wildlife) live, we live.”

TOP 10 RP DIVING SITES

Anilao (Batangas)

Puerto Galera (Orental Mindoro)

Cabilao Island (Bohol)

Balicasag Island (Bohol)

Apo Island (Negros Oriental)

Malapascua (Cebu)

Tubbataha Reef National Park (Palawan)

Sarangani Bay

Mactan Island (Cebu)

Olango Island (Cebu)

Source: Department of Tourism