Impressed by the success of the Illana Bay Regional Alliance IX (IBRA-9), a group of fisherfolks and Coastal Resource Management officials from Misamis Occidental toured in this province this month in two batches.

{sidebar id=5}They called themselves as “Save Nature Society, Inc.” who chose to have a study tour in Tabina as recommended by EcoGov having an exemplary performance in managing her marine protected areas (MPAs).

The first batch paid a courtesy call to the office of the Governor particularly the Project Management Office of IBRA 9 at the Capitol where PMO staff headed by Engr. Noel Pabiran with Administrative Officer Leah T. Tambolero for the briefing.
        
The Save Nature Society, Inc. is composed of MPA Management Core Groups of Tudela and Sinacaban towns, both of Misamis Occidental province.

According to Jericho Tomlod, MPA Project Officer and Related CRM Project of  Save Nature Society, Inc., they divided the group into 2 batches. The first batch  was here last November 21 and 22 who would visit the mangrove areas in Barangays Tambuna and Pangalaran of Tabina and had to interact with the implementers of mangrove protection.

Batch 2 was slated on November 27 and 28 whose destination would be the marine sanctuaries in Tambunan, Takisay and Concepcion, all of Tabina. Here, the group were expected to meet with the fish sanctuary managers, fish wardens (bantay dagat) and other implementers for the protection of marine sanctuaries.

If Zamboanga del Sur’s IBRA-9 has USAID as funding agency, Misamis Occidental Coastal management projects are under the auspices of Philippine-Australia Community Assistance Program (PACAP).  

IBRA-9 had bagged the prestigious Gawad Galing Pook national award in 2002 which successfully sustained its standard.  In fact, this time, the 8 LGUs comprising IBRA-9 have chipped in certain amount for its operating expenses.  In fact, Governor Auring E. Cerilles gave P1.5-Million as contribution for this year while Tukuran, Labangan, Pagadian City, Dumalinao, Dimataling, Pitogo, Dinas and Tabina had P50-T each for the operation of the Project Management Office.    
(Radem L. Gutang/Provincial Press Bureau)