The Malampaya Foundation Inc. (MFI) reported having spawned 132 million giant clam species of Tridacna gigas (Taklobo) at the end of 2020, which will be deployed to effectively-managed marine-protected areas (MPAs) in select coastal reefs in north Palawan, Oriental Mindoro, and Batangas. The Taklobo was declared extinct in the country during the 1980s due to poaching, destructive fishing practices, and water pollution. But it was through the efforts of the late national scientist and former MFI trustee Edgardo Gomez that the Taklobos were saved from total extinction through the breeding efforts of the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UP-MSI).

Gomez, E. J. (2021, June 12). 132M giant clams spawned in 2020. The Manila Times, p. B5.