01/08/2025
READ: Damgo Naton Masbate Founder and President Jofer Asilum's research on the livelihood impacts of the governance of the Buntod Reef Marine Sanctuary is cited in this feature article by BicoldotPH ✊
"According to Jofer Asilum’s 2019 study, the Buntod Marine Protected Area has become central to local development. Ecological gains have directly benefited fisherfolk, especially Samapusi, now a recognized people’s organization...But Asilum also documented stark disparities in Tugbo which also “rely on the ecosystem services of the MPA.”
While Samupasi of Barangay Nursery managed the MPA as an established people’s organization, Tugbo’s fisherfolk were just beginning to organize, leaving them with limited capacity to assert their rights. This gap fueled uneven access to support and heightened exposure to external stressors like the oil-fired power plant in nearby Mobo town.
“The MPA’s core zone’s no fishing policy also forced them to fish in far waters,” Asilum noted.
He cautioned that without comparable aid, the community risked deepening marginalization, especially after losing nearby traditional fishing grounds to power plant activities, which fisherfolk claimed to have disrupted local biodiversity."
Read his study here: http://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.11106.58563/1
(The study won the Best Paper Award at the 12th International Conference and Scientific Meeting of the Philippines Network of Educators on Environment in Palawan in 2019.)
