Leah Sabanal arrives at Lio Beach a little before 2AM, meeting up with the rest of her team as they prepare to walk roughly 8km for their pawikan1 patrol. As a batch leader, she takes every one’s attendance, distributes the patrol gear, and makes sure they’re complete before heading out. It will be sunrise by the time they get back.
Leah, like most of the locals in El Nido, lost a steady source of income when the spa she works for had to stop operating due to the pandemic. No one was spared, not even our company as the tourism industry in the Philippines suffered a loss of PhP190B from March to July alone2. While the pandemic happened just as the Ten Knots Group has been announced as the world’s first certified Sea Turtle FriendlyTM organization in Q1 of 2020, this has not dampened our spirits, as well as the hearts of those who support the work that we do.
In August, we received a sizable donation that enabled us to launch the Be G.R.E.E.N. (Guard, Respect, Educate El Nido) and GREAT program, where we hire displaced personnel for four projects namely: Coastal Cleanup, Wildling Rescue and Replanting, Mooring Buoy Rehabilitation, and Pawikan Patrol. With cycles of 10 days per program, participants are paid at the end of each week with money and goods sourced from local suppliers. The Pawikan Patrol program adds to our list of sea turtle conservation initiatives. Now, aside from being able to relocate endangered nests to our hatchery, the patrol allows us to get information on nesters and tag them. We also got full government endorsement of the local turtle conservation network we founded in 2017, and are exploring collaboration in other areas, especially those with high incidences of poaching.
With partners like Leah amongst the local community, no pandemic can stop us from carrying on our mission to protect sea turtles while creating environment-friendly livelihoods.
To know more about the program and the work that we do, head to our website and follow us on our FB and IG pages: El Nido Resorts – Be GREEN and @enrbegreen.
It’s almost sunrise, and the team is walking towards their starting point. It was a productive walk – buckets were filled with trash washed ashore, and illegal activities were abated and reported for further action. But alas, no turtle again today. Maybe they’ll have better luck tomorrow.
1Local term for sea turtle
2Data from the Tourism Congress of the Philippines
