Romula Caranza maintains a garden on the shores of Santiago Island in this northwestern town in Pangasinan province. Daily, she painstakingly checks her plants, removing barnacles, oysters and other seashells attached to slim trunks and branches, clearing the area of seaweeds that can choke them and counting each green, newly sprouted leaves. Caranza’s garden in Pilar village is actually a mangrove plantation that she helped establish as a member of Samahan ng Magsasaka at Mangingisda para sa Kalikasan. She also guards the place from fishermen whose gears run over and destroy the saplings.

Sotelo, Y. (2014, April 15). Bolinao villagers are fierce protectors of mangrove forests. Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A8.