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.”

There is more to this town than its famous “bangus” (milkfish) and tilapia. As soon as the harvest season is over, hundreds of birds, mostly egrets, take over and swarm into the town’s fishponds in search of whatever is left in areas drained of water.

The initial 50 hectares has expanded to 220 hectares (544 acres), thanks to both ongoing planting efforts and natural reforestation. The Kalibo mangrove is considered a major tourist attraction; in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the mangrove forest registered 38,455 foreign and local tourists, and the Kalibo Save the Mangrove Association (KASAMA), founded by the planters, has received several national awards.

Dwarf forest, elfin forest, or pygmy forest is an uncommon ecosystem featuring miniature trees, inhabited by small species of fauna such as rodents and lizards. They are usually located at high elevations, under conditions of sufficient air humidity but poor soil. There are two main dwarf forest ecosystem types, involving different species and environmental characteristics: coastal temperate and montane tropical regions.

When President Rodrigo Duterte announced the Covid-19 lockdown and enhanced community quarantines, our family was blessed to be in Palawan. From a remote island, we made our way to the Tao Philippines main basecamp. Tao is a community that is addressing all the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Deva is the Hindu term for deity; devatas (Javanese, Balinese, Sundanese, Malay and Indonesian: dewata; Philippine languages: diwata), are a kind of smaller more focused devas. The term “devata” also means devas (deva in plural form or the gods). There are many kinds of devatas: vanadevatas (forest spirits, perhaps descendants of early nature-spirit cults), gramadevata (village gods), devata of river crossings, caves, mountains, and so on.

The Mantiw are thirty foot spirits in Iloilo, Panay often spotted whistling while roaming the wide open fields, or leaning against coconut and buri palm trees. Witnesses describe them as having a fair complexion, broad shoulders, and hooked noses. Despite being commonly reserved and peaceful in nature, the Mantiw are easily offended when a human attempts to whistle along with them. As a result, it will grab the whistling human it finds a nuisance, carry them off to the tallest coconut tree...