Before the COVID-19 Pandemic was declared, I and two other members of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) took a trip to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah on the invitation of the World Islamic Ecohomic Forum where I was asked to speak on the implications of the transfer of the Indonesian capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan, Borneo Island.
I decided to fly to KK well ahead of the scheduled March 12-13 Forum because I wanted to visit the southernmost islands of the Philippines, specifically the Turtle Islands Group composed of six islands which belong to the province of TawiTawi.
By going to Sandakan and crossing the sea to reach the main island of Taganak, I was actually reducing the travel time to the Turtle Islands by about 14 hours.
Using a Philippine Coast Guard vessel which sailed from Zamboanga City March 8, it took the MinDA Media Team 15 hours reaching Taganak early morning of March 9.
On the other hand, it only took me and the other staff less than 1 hour to reach Taganak Island from Sandakan using a 600-horsepower speedboat owned by Turtle Islands Mayor Mohamad Faizal Jamalul, even with rough seas.
After a short welcome ceremony in the main island of Taganak where the Turtle Islands Municipal Hall is located, I and the MinDA Beauty and Bounty of Mindanao Media Team proceeded to Baguan Island, the natural habitat of the Green Sea Turtle which is uninhabited except for a team composed of wardens and job order workers of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
I spent the night of March 9 with the wardens in Baguan Island and earned the distinction of being the first Cabinet Secretary to ever set foot and sleep in the island.
The overnight stay in Baguan Island, the 35-hectare protected and no fishing area which serves as the main breeding ground for the Green Sea Turtles, was both enchanting and enlightening.
There I realized how Mother Nature works.
It was also during my overnight stay in the island when I realized how human beings with their uncaring attitude are endangering ecological balance and the environment.
Plastics from as far as Sandakan are washed ashore in Baguan Island endangering the Green Sea Turtles.
Here in the 6th Episode of the Beauty and Bounty of Mindanao, MinDA shares with you the hidden beauty of Mindanao and the need to protect the environment from human depredations.
There is no question, however, that Mindanao has many more hidden beauties and unimaginable bounties which if preserved and protected would be the gems which we could bequeath to the next generation of Filipinos.
(MinDA Media Team thanks the Western Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Philippine Coast Guard, Province of Tawitawi, Municipality of Turtle Islands and the people of Turtle Islands.)
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