Last weekend, Henry Co, Ford Group Philippines president, and Cherry Ramirez, AVP for government affairs, along with other FGP executives, observed the efforts to educate students in a local elementary school on the importance of environmental protection, specifically for the giant turtles, considered endangered species.

HENRY CO (right) speaks to students about environmental protection.

At the end of the lecture, Co led the students in releasing a 15-year-old Green Turtle that was caught by a fisherman off Nagsanlay area a week ago. The turtle who was named "Lontoc," after the fisherman who caught it, was tagged with the serial numbers P-21837 and P-21838 on its right and left flippers, before it was released to the sea.

Barangay Laiya is fast becoming a popular tourist destination. Its pristine beaches, white sands and proximity to Metro Manila, has made this small village of San Juan town in Batangas a new haven for holiday seekers.

In the past years, first-class beach resorts have sprouted in many areas along the 33kilometer beach front of San Juan town. Based on the local government’s adherence to strict eco-tourism guidelines to preserve the environment of the town, only two of the 16 coastal barangays are occupied by some 20 beach resorts. And those resorts are constantly monitored by local government units to ensure that they do not violate municipal ordinances on peace and order and most especially, environmental protection.

Councilor Noel Pasco estimated that local and foreign tourists who flocked to Barangay Laiya has reached about one million last year. The place is popular for scuba diving, beach bumming and total relaxation away from stressful Metro Manila.

San Juan town was declared as a Science Park by government authorities because its wide variety of marine resources have remained intact and almost unexploited.

Sightings of large schools of dolphins and whales were reported on the waters of Laiya Ibabaw and are now considered major attraction for sea-loving tourists.

On the other hand, Laiya Aplaya and its neighboring barangays have the pawikans or the sea turtles as their regular visitors. Scenes of pawikans laying their eggs on the long sandy stretch of Laiya’s coastlines have become regular to the residents.

Of the seven species of sea turtles existing in the different parts of the world, five are found in the Philippines — Green Turtle, Hawksbill Turtle, Olive Ridley Turtle, Loggerhead Turtle and even the very rare Leatherback Turtle.

Of the five, the Green, Hawksbill and Olive Ridley Turtles have found their breeding nests in Laiya and its neighboring villages. According to Pasco, the Green turtles mostly came from Palawan while the Olive Ridley swam all the way from the waters of Malaysia.

Ramon Flores of Mother Earth Movement, which is involved in the pawikan conservation drives in San Juan coastal areas, said that turtles always go the beaches where they were born.

A community-based marine conservation drive, which focused on pawikan protection, started in 1999 when an American national volunteered to educate the people of San Juan on the threat of extinction of pawikans. Since then, sea turtles have landed on the shores of Laiya without fear of being slaughtered. The nesting grounds, where the pawikans dig some 60 meters deep from the surface, are just in front of the fishermen’s houses, yet they are untouched.

The eggs, numbering from 70 to 200 in one laying, are under the watchful protection of the villagers who protect it during the 40 to 60 days hatching period.

"We have tagged at least 30 pawikans that landed on the shores of Laiya," said Marco Baltazar of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Pawikan Conservation and Protection program. At least 13,000 pawikans were caught, tagged for record purposes and later freed in the different parts of the country.