Some of the mangroves that grow in Barangay Umapad. | Mary Rose Sagarino
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – The Mandaue City Government plans to develop mangrove swamps that are located on its coastal barangays into eco-tourism sites, according to Sharon Mangadlao, in-charge of the City Agriculture Office (CAO).
Doing so was also a means to protect these from abuse and destruction, she said.
Rene Cobong, president of the Federation of Fisherfolks and Bantay Dagat, said Mandaue City was home to a variety of mangroves that are found on its 10 coastal barangays.
These include miapi, pagatpat, pututan, bakhaw baye, and bakhaw laki. The city’s most dominant kind of mangrove was miapi.
Mangadlao said the that Mandaue City currently has 72-hectares of mangrove swamps found in its coastal barangays that include Umapad, Labogon and Paknaan, among others.
These areas have the potential to become eco-tourism sites if given the right intervention, she said.
One of these interventions was the need to plan more mangroves in these areas.
The city government, according to Mangadlao, hopes to plant a total of 30, 000 mangrove propagules next year.
She said the initiative was in line with the Vision Alliance Circle (VAC) in Mangrove Protection of the city’s Performance Governance System. This program was under the environmental sustainable road map that was headed by CAO.
Mangadlao said that since Mandaue City do not have forests, the city government wanted to focus its efforts on the development and protection of its available natural resources that include its mangroves.
The city’s mangrove nursery in Barangay Umapad. | Mary Rose Sagarino
Mangrove Nursery
As a preparation for its massive mangrove planting campaign in 2024, the city government has converted a portion of the old dumpsite in Barangay Umapad into a mangrove nursery that is now referred to as the Green Learning Park.
Mangadlao said that the nursery was created by the fisherfolks and out-of-school youth during their 10-day cash-for-training program in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Services in Central Visayas (DSWD-7).
| Mary Rose Sagarino
The around 300 program beneficiaries were also trained in mangroves protection. They were also taught to identify and properly segregate the garbage that are found on the city’s mangrove swamps.
“Napukaw akoa interest sa mangroves, environment kay tungod sa panahon karun wala na tay pakialam sa atoang kalibutan, kay lagi naa nay bag-ong technology. As a youth nga natrain ganahan nako i-share sad [akong knowledge]. Dako kaayo og tabang [ang mangroves] kung adunay kalamidad,” said Sharon Labay, an out-of-school youth from barangay Umapad and one of the program beneficiaries.
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