Worth celebrating

It was a festive week for the province with the celebration of the annual Pista’y Dayatand the holding of the major events for the month-long Bangus Festival in Dagupan, Pangasinan’s main business center.

People flocked to the streets and beaches for the  parties, many participated in sporting events and other competitions, tiangges and food stalls were crowded, and the fiesta spirit was very much in the air notwithstanding the rains that weather forecasters have earlier warned will be falling even during the dry season this year.

But the best part of this year’s festivities would be, and it was aptly scheduled as the opening event on May 1, the signing of a covenant for the protection of the Lingayen Gulf alongside the development of our marine resources.

This is a long overdue action for the province and it definitely calls for celebration.

But this is just the first step.

The bigger challenge now for the signatories is keeping true and delivering on the promises in that covenant.

It bears close watching the province’s 12 coastal towns — Bolinao, Anda, Bani, Infanta, Dasol, Burgos, Agno, Sual, Labrador, Lingayen, Binmaley, San Fabian; and two cities — Alaminos and Dagupan.

Their efforts should go beyond the external cleanliness campaign. Priority should be placed on developing and implementing policies and programs that will allow the people to benefit from our marine resources without compromising the well being of the Lingayen Gulf.

This is no easy task. But not impossible.

Our local leaders can look and learn from the success of other provinces such as Negros Oriental (specifically the Apo Island project), Bohol, and Palawan. Help could also be tapped from the experts such as the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources’ Asian Fisheries Academy in Bonuan Binloc and the The University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute which has a satellite unit in Bolinao.

The task, of course, does not rest solely on our government officials. The fishermen and the coastal communities themselves are major stakeholders in this pursuit. 

There is a big damage in the gulf that will take years to repair and even as that is being addressed, we need to start finding strategies built on the core value of sustainability.

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