From My Tricycle Diaries

My Red Village: Barangay Mapula

By Erie Maestro
Barangay Mapula-Romblon
September 23, 2015



Barangay Mapula (Village Red) is a little coastal village in the small island of Romblon. The trio of islands Romblon, Tablas and Sibuyan compose the Province of Romblon, which is situated at the centre of the Philippine archipelago. Mapula in Sitio Batia-no is my father’s island hometown. It is one of those villages where the people take care of their sea and land cooperatively and collectively as best as they can.

Mapula is a 30-minute tricycle ride from the pantalan (pier) off the town plaza in Romblon. There are no buses, there are very few cars; but there are lots of tricycles and motorcycles called “singles”. The route to Mapula is a scenic stretch of blue sea and sand, punctuated with mangrove trees and fishing boats. The sunsets in Mapula are beautiful, the stars shine brighter at night and fireflies still light up the summer nights.

I find out to my pleasant surprise that my local barangay organizes beach clean-ups and roadside clean-ups. It also mobilizes for a couple of early morning hours of community-based clean-ups every month the local barangay officials, Bantay Dagat (Sea Watch) members, Women’s Group and other volunteers, even the policemen and women from the  police detachment in the kapitolyo (capitol).
 
Doing clean-ups means walking along the stretch of the barangay road and coast line, picking up litter (from used baby diapers, candy and coffee wrappers to broken glass), sweeping the beach area of debris, cutting the roadside grass, burying the garbage and encouraging local residents to do the same through example. One of the barangay members tells me: "Ang basura dito ay binabaon pero ang mga plastic at bote ang kinukuha ng barangay para ipagbili.” (The garbage is buried but we segregate the plastics and bottles and sell them).

Where else do you see members of the police force from the kapitolyo armed with their brooms picking up plastic and litter from the beach and putting these in straw sacks, side by side with barangay and resident volunteers? Where else do you see the barangay captain wielding the grass cutter to trim the overgrown grass by the road? I will hazard a guess that maybe, only in Mapula. It is this active participation that enables the barangay captain, Ignacio Rubas, to continue to be the prime mover of these community environmental actions. Last year, the volunteers proudly tell me that their barangay was awarded the cleanest barangay. Kapitan Rubas was also recognized in 2014 as an outstanding barangay captain for his work in promoting excellence in local governance by the Municipality of Romblon.

There is no government garbage collection in Mapula which means the villagers need to do serious recycling, composting and use alternative ways of dealing with garbage. Blue metal garbage cans are placed by the barangay along the roadside in Mapula to catch the litter of school children and residents walking along the road. These cans are emptied by the members of the barangay council as well. There is no reason to litter!
 
Mapula is also one of 14 Marine Protected Areas in Romblon Province and is home to a Fish and Marine Sanctuary of 5,291 hectares. Romblon stands on the border of the Romblon Passage, a marine corridor for migratory marine species like yellow fin and tuna. It is not only a harbour for threatened and endangered species like the sea turtles, dolphins, giant clams and sea cows, but it is also a marine ecosystem that includes corals and mangroves.

There are new mangrove seedlings poking out of the seawater, the result of the barangay and community reforestation program. The volunteers are not only enthusiastic but also articulate on why the mangrove areas need to be protected and expanded. One woman volunteer talks passionately about what they are doing and how it impacts on their lives and future. She confesses that initially she was not completely convinced about these clean-ups and reforestation but eventually saw their importance.

She says, “Hindi ako mismo kumbinsido noon pero nakita ko rin kung bakit importante ang maglinis, mag-segregate, magtanim ng mangroves. Nakikita na namin na marami na ang sihi (type of edible shell) in the area.” (I was not convinced but I soon realized the importance of why we needed to clean-up, segregate, and plant mangroves. Now, we see that the sihi are flourishing.”)

Mapula is a small empowered community that works together to protect and nurture its coastal resources and its local environment. I am pleased to be able to tell this story from my Red Village, my munting nayon.