Early this year, an international media group together with a resort developer announced that it will open an underwater resort just off the coast of Palawan. The 400-hectare master-planned project will be developed in the island of Culion, a few hours away from the globally acclaimed Coron Island and part of Palawan. It was touted to be the first resort of its kind in Southeast Asia. Expected to open in 2020, the proposed development that was first conceptualized in 2011 touted itself to address the conservation of coral reefs and ocean protection. But for Gregorio “Ditto” Dela Rosa, Jr., officer-in-charge for conservation and science and research department of the environmental organization Haribon Foundation, the project would have proven disastrous not only to Palawan but to the entire natural environment that is home to about 10,000 species of marine flora and fauna.

Saving our seas: the world’s last ecological frontier faces the threat of commercialization. (2017, February 5). Manila Bulletin, p. 14.