Two cities in Negros Occidental province and a resort in Palawan province have been named among the top 100 “green destinations” by an international environmental group promoting what it called “sustainable destinations.”

In the town of Pilar in the central Philippines, a community of 11,308 residents looks after one of the most successful marine protected areas in the country: the Pilar Municipal Marine Park (PMMP). Established in 2005, the 179-hectare (443-acre) park stands out among the thousands of MPAs in the Philippines, which experts say are only protected on paper.

As the youth of Adat B’laan, an indigenous group in South Cotabato, experience increased exposure and enjoy the benefits of modernization, embracing mainstream society practices has sometimes taken priority over knowing and understanding their ethnic language, rituals and traditions. In the past few years, this has resulted in the cultural erosion of the Adat B’laan.

GAME TIME Egged on by their elders, boys in Hungduan town in Ifugao province compete in a game of tug-of-war in the community’s river in this year’s postharvest tugging ritual, “punnuk.” The tradition has been listed as an intangible cultural heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The creations of two Filipinos, sculptor Rex Dacanay and painter/illustrator Nannette Nemenzo, were among the works exhibited at the 29th annual UCSF ARTshow, which ran for one week in October. It was presented by the UCSF Visual Arts Club.

“Illegal logging – that is the large scale logging done by big companies. What we did here is not logging. We cut trees to sell to sawmill so that we could have money to buy food and other necessities for our family.” So says Eugene Igdalino, a resident of Samar and former harvester and transporter of illegal logs in what is now the Samar Island Natural Park. His story, like many others in the province and around the country, is one of people utilizing the resources around them in order to ...

Lanuza Bay is a shallow crescent of beach and forest off the northeastern shore of Mindanao, the Philippines’ second-largest island. A few dozen villages line the shores and islands in the bay, nestled among the coconut trees. The residents of Lanuza Bay keep their dugout and outrigger canoes on the beaches, making it clear that this is a fishing community. For the Filipinos living here, the ocean is the source of food, jobs and life.