Oca Monzales now 71 years old has been engaged in the seaweed industry for 52 years now, starting way back in 1965. He has made it mission to propagate seaweed farming and is well-respected and well-loved in the rural areas especially among the seaweed farmers. Oca started to share his expertise in seaweed farming in Sitangkai, Tawi-Tawi in 1974. TawiTawi is one of the major producing areas of seaweeds in our country (other areas are Sulu, Zamboanga del Sur and Palawan). Oca has gone to other places in our country to promote our red seaweed industry.

Favis-Villafuerte, N. (2017, April 29). The future of seaweed industry. Manila Bulletin, p. B-7.