DONSOL, Sorsogon—On his day off from his two jobs last November, after two strong typhoons battered the Bicol region including this coastal town popular among tourists eager for an “encounter” with whale sharks, Antolin Cuelana queued for relief goods at the basketball court in Barangay Ogod. 

The queue in Ogod, the largest barangay in Donsol, is now such a common sight that the distribution of relief goods had become highly efficient and systematic. “There’s a list of who should get relief goods. Whether you line up or not, what is meant for you will reach you,” Cuelana, 48, told CoverStory.ph. 

He works as a river guide and a security guard at the hospital in Ogod.

For the third year in a row, the Philippines was listed as the country most vulnerable to climate risks, according to WorldRiskIndex 2024, a report by the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict.

When Severe Tropical Storm “Kristine” (international name: Trami) hit Bicol, Ogod experienced severe flooding despite its higher elevation (7.8 meters or 25.6 feet) compared to nearby villages.

Cuelana said that when typhoons hit Bicol, the worst impact on Ogod is hunger. Close to two-thirds of the barangay’s population (4,189 based on the 2020 census) are fishers and farmers who depend on the sea and land for their survival.

Those affected by extreme weather events often take a leave from work to repair their damaged houses. Those with very limited incomes and resources rely on government doles or donations from private organizations for their survival.

Buffer

The residents would be in a worse plight were it not for the mangrove forests that serve to temper the rush of strong waves, Cuelana said. 

He recalled that in his early teens, he helped his father cut down the mangroves to sell the wood for P1 a bundle. One frequent buyer was a bakery owner who used mangrove wood to fire its ovens. 

Mangrove wood produces more intense heat and lasts longer than other wood varieties. Raha, or the gathering of mangroves for making charcoal, was also so lucrative that the demand outpaced the supply.

“As long as the sibid (non-motorized boat) was still floating, we’d fill it up,” Cuelana recalled. “It would get so full that it would almost capsize.” They earned P50 per trip—an amount that could buy almost 20 kilos of rice in the late 1980s.

“It was not only us,” he said. “From our village alone, many made the sale of mangrove wood their livelihood.”

In the past, the Ogod River teemed with various mangrove species. “I remember tungog. Eventually, they disappeared. We were gathering tungog because they were used as fences,” said Cuelana, who has been guiding tourists on the river since 2005. 

But now, he said, he would occasionally see tungog in certain areas of the river. 

In another barangay six or seven kilometers from Ogod, a certain species of mangrove locally called lapis-lapis (Ceriops zeppiliana) for its pencil-like features are again thriving, according to Manuel Narvadez Jr., Donsol project manager of World Wildlife Fund-Philippines.

Protector

In a way, the whale sharks or butanding (Rhincodon typus) protect the mangroves in Ogod River. “Without the butanding, the river will not be the way it is now,” Cuelana said.

The river was once so polluted by waste and debris that bathing in it was deemed dangerous. With the presence of the butanding, the locals have realized that the mangroves need protection because they are an essential part of the whale shark’s food chain.

In a video produced by WWF Philippines, experts explain that whale sharks feed on plankton, which cannot survive without the nutrients from healthy, mangrove-rich rivers. 

Whale sharks used to be slaughtered in Donsol for their meat. But in March 1998, the town became the first ever whale shark sanctuary in the Philippines with the passage of an ordinance protecting the gentle giants.

But a few days after the Donsol council passed the ordinance, hunters killed a whale shark in the waters off a neighboring town. The killing drew national attention, prompting then President Fidel V. Ramos to call for more protection for the butanding. The Department of Agriculture issued an order for the protection of not only whale sharks but also manta rays nationwide.

Sustainable practices

Whale shark tourism has attracted local and international nature lovers because of Donsol’s sustainable practices. In the encounters, tourists are not allowed to touch or feed the whale sharks and the number of boats that bring a limited number of tourists to the ocean is regulated, unlike in other towns where butanding have also been spotted.

In 2019, 18,384 local and overseas tourists came from January to June and from November to December. Due to the travel restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, the number of arrivals dropped to 2,375.

Gradually, the restrictions were eased. In 2023, 9,182 tourists came for a glimpse of the butanding. The number was 7,848 last July.

Before tourists are allowed to get on the boats with trained and certified guides called “butanding interaction officers” (BIO), they are reminded that seeing a whale shark is not guaranteed although Donsol has recorded the biggest number of sightings in the Philippines.

“This is wildlife, after all,” said BIO Ernesto Musa Jr., 46.

Musa and other BIOs in Donsol accompany tourists—only six per boat—for four hours in the Donsol waters. Aside from serving as guides, they make sure that tourists do not touch and feed the butanding so that the sharks would not associate the boats with food. This practice ensures that even if the butanding are not within the safety of Donsol waters, they would not fall prey to hunters elsewhere.

Firefly watching

The peak period for whale shark interaction is from March to June. In between, the local government and tourism workers offer firefly-watching boat trips on the Ogod River. 

“Fireflies also rely on these mangroves and clean water to thrive,” according to the WWF-Philippines video. “When mangroves disappear, fireflies vanish. And without the nutrients from the mangroves, plankton can’t thrive, forcing whale sharks to leave.”

The local governments of Donsol and neighboring towns have discussed solid waste management especially in areas where the Ogod River runs, to keep it clean. 

Cuelana and other fishers from Ogod set up the Donsol Firefly Boat and Guide Services Cooperative, where he serves as president and board director. “In the history of the Philippines, Donsol was the first in whale shark tourism. For firefly watching, Donsol was also first, and it was here in Ogod,” he said.

His cooperative has a total of 30 boats. One river trip earns enough to feed three families.

Rehabilitation

WWF Philippines has identified 4.89 hectares of land for potential mangrove rehabilitation in Donsol alone, according to Nickell Alexandra Bailon, communications officer at the WWF Donsol Integrated Conservation Program.

These are areas where mangroves are grown and cared for to allow the population to regrow and recover from degradation and exploitation.

In its “Comprehensive Assessment of Mangrove Areas in Ticao-Burias Pass Protected Seascape,” WWF-Philippines recorded the perceived benefits by focus group discussion participants from Donsol.

The participants view mangroves not only as ecotourism sites and habitat and breeding areas for birds and fish but also as effective plastic waste traps that offer protection from erosion and storm surges and provide fresh and clean air. 

Andrea Pimentel-Paz, 31, the project manager for mangrove ecosystem management at WWF, said mangroves are important trees in terms of climate adaptation.

“Mangroves are one of the blue carbon ecosystems,” she told CoverStory, referring to a term sometimes used to describe seagrasses and marshes. “They absorb up to three times more carbon dioxide compared to inland trees, helping humanity mitigate climate changes.”

But according to river guide Cuelana, while the residents are aware of the mangroves’ benefits, trash from the neighboring province of Albay is ending up in Donsol via the Ogod River.

“For other people, if they do not benefit from something, they tend not to care about it,” he said, adding that they are mistaken in thinking that they do not benefit from the protected mangroves in Donsol.

Cuelana, who is retiring soon from his job as river guide, expressed hope that the youth in Donsol will continue the tradition of protecting the mangroves.

This report was written with support from the “Covering Climate: Qualifying Environmental Journalists in the Philippines” project, which is financed by the German Embassy Manila and implemented by Deutsche Welle Akademie.

Read more: ‘Mangrove Warriors’ take up the conservation challenge in a Batangas village