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Sarah Meier-Albano
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May. 7, 2012
at 8:31pm
170 notes

#Palawan #Save Palawan Seas #Pearls #Philippines #South Sea #Gold #Environment #Nature

Palawan — A letter to my daughter (and all other children of the Philippine Islands)

My Dearest Kaya,

I’m writing this in April of the year 2012, skin glowing from the kiss of the Palawan sun, head still rocking from the turbulence that jostled our tiny plane as we prepared to land back in Manila.

This is the return from a trip that was initially supposed to be about widening my perspective of the ins and outs of the pearl farming industry, but I have left the islands with oceans more than a crash course in oyster reproduction. I am inclined to tell you to become a marine biologist when you grow up because of this (it seems to be a fascinating and peaceful job), but because my story is more about understanding ones natural role and purpose on this planet than anything else, let me not tinker with what your path has in store for you in a manner other than providing you with information and open mindedness.

Just to reiterate, it is 2012, which means you are 6 and I am 30. The only beach I frequented enough when I was your age to consider “home” was the island of Boracay, and considering what my serene childhood haven has transformed into, perhaps that can be the basis and catalyst for you to understand why it is imperative for me to sanctify the here and now for Palawan.

She’s beautiful, my love.

Waters teeming with life in the complexity of forms, functions, and colors a thousand creative meetings could not conjure up. A thirty-minute snorkel lent me a glimpse into the lives of barracuda, squid, and needle fish – and a unique sighting of a lapu-lapu that I initially thought was growling at me, until I realized it was only bearing its teeth so the little dentist fish I finally spotted could clean them.

Nature, so simple to witness at work.

Hundreds of virtually untouched islands that lend us a glimpse into what the world might have looked like before it was seen by eyes of man - man whose hands found ways to use the land, failing to understand the repercussions of haste and waste. There are sides of mountains shaved of greenery, like a bald spot on a head otherwise full of hair. The orange-brown earth almost neon in its disruptiveness. This is the result of the slashing and burning of trees by villagers that are not in tune with the long-term side effects of a seemingly resourceful act.

The fish in tanks at Chinese restaurants? My love, do not eat them, for in order for these fish to look appetizing (sans hook marks or missing scales, which are brandings of natural rod and net fishing), they are drugged with cyanide, scooped out of the water in their incapacitated state, and hauled onto illegal Chinese fishing boats bobbing on the water in the black of night.

Nature, so unarmed to defend itself from violation.

—

Pearl of the Orient

The name was bestowed upon our nation by the West, which, considering the Perlas ng Silanganan inclusion in our national anthem, I would not have guessed. But there is much that the average Filipino does not know; that the pearl is our national gem, for example, or that the highly revered beauty that is the golden South Sea pearl – used by the Cartiers and Tiffanys of this world – is mostly produced in Philippine waters. Which means nearly anytime you see a perfectly round, large, lustrous, smooth, and distinctly gold pearl in jewelry shop windows along the high streets of Paris and New York, you can smile and say “ours”.

But the pride, my dear child, is not merely of the surface kind. Much like a tree trunk tells us a story with it’s rings of age, the nacre layers of the pearl are a time capsule of both beauty and travesty that our country goes through – altered by every earthquake, volcanic eruption, and typhoon. Each little gem holds the weight of a nation’s tale – boasting perfection, if it was a year of peace (or otherwise).

Which is why symbiosis between man and nature in Palawan is an artful balance, a beautiful dance of reciprocity that must be respected, and perfected with time. Currently, the Save Palawan Seas Foundation is educating communities on how to make a living without having to resort to dynamite fishing or scalping the terrain. When I visited, townsfolk were being taught recipes for various cashew products; polvoron, honey glazed nuts, or even wine and prunes from the cashew fruit. Organic farming, too, is one of the alternate sources of both income and food, which is a massive breakthrough in education for a community that has been swayed by advertising to believe that the canned food they cannot afford is actually healthy for their children. (This shocked me!) Thankfully, the result of eating organically farmed vegetables is beginning to take shape in these vicinities, where once stick thin youngsters with bloated bellies, are now visions of optimum health.

I hope you get the chance to visit the islands years from now with this letter in mind, and come back to me with a smile on your face. Not a Boracay smile, which is one of bars and resorts, camaraderie and loud music, and drinking til dawn — but a Palawan smile, which is smile of serenity and inner peace, understanding of nature, and alignment with the Universe.

I have attached many pictures to this letter. If you can dedicate your life to making sure the ones you take 20 years from now look just like mine, I promise you, it will be a life well lived.

I love you very much.

~Mama.