Life seemed a lot better for Apo island barangay captain Liberty Pascobello-Rhodes back then.

“When I started the marine sanctuary project in 1983, everyone in Apo Island was angry with me,” Rhodes said.

Putting a marine sanctuary which was off-limits to fishermen seemed

strange for the inhabitants of this 74-hectare island. The fishermen didn't mind having to row their bancas far to catch fish, so long as they were free to do whatever they wanted in their small island.

But thanks to Rhodes ' persistence, as well as the continuation of her efforts by her brother Mario, who succeeded her as barangay captain until 2007, today, the concept of a marine sanctuary has paid off and the people here no longer have to go far to fish.

The success of this project has also attracted tourists from all over the world, who last year paid a total of P3.6 million in entry, diving and anchorage fees to the island's Protected Area Management Board alone.

The people of Apo Island may have gotten over their anger at Rhodes ' experiment back then. But since Rhodes became barangay captain last October, she found herself facing new enemies — unscrupulous boat operators and irresponsible tour operators who send tourists to the island.

“Now, the resorts of Negros, Cebu and Bohol are angry with me. I feel like I'm a tiger surrounded by so many crocodiles who like to eat the tiger!”

For Rhodes , the influx of tourists has caused increasing damage to the marine sanctuary. “The first destination of divers is the clownfish city. There were so many clownfish back then that it really looked like a city. Now, I could barely count them. It's no longer a city — it's a purok!”

As a diver who operates one of the island's two hotels and a dive shop, Rhodes knows what she's talking about. And she has seen careless tourists stealing clownfish from the marine sanctuary, among other violations. Some divers scrape the corals with their dive gear or worse, by standing on them.

“That made me decide to focus my three-year-term on further protecting the marine sanctuary.”

Growing up as a fisherman's daughter didn't quite imbibe in her the love for corals. It was only when she started scuba diving a few years back when she found out how important corals were to their island's survival.

To ensure the protection of the reef, Rhodes formed two teams of dive rangers to check on tourist divers; to ensure that they would love the reef, she had them certified as scuba divers as well.

It was looking at a dive boat from the bottom of the sea that made the rangers discover that these boats have toilets but do not have holding tanks for waste.

So Rhoses instructed her bantay dagat volunteers to board incoming vessels and explain the island's tougher rules to ensure a cleaner environment. “I told the boat operators that if they want to keep their jobs, they'd better help me keep this island clean.” Rhodes said.

The boats will be fined for each violation and will be banned from Apo island after the third violation. Liberty said it's such a small price to pay for a healthy environment in the island.

As the island's most enterprising inhabitant, Rhodes is not without critics, who accuse her of doing what she does to promote her business.

“I tell them, yes, I admit I have a business. But my business will only survive if our environment survives. And if our environment survives, everyone survives.”

True enough, Rhodes jealously guards her island's natural resources as if their lives depend on them, for as her business motto says, “If they (wildlife) live, we live.”*AP

back to top