Peace and Good day!
Welcome to the breeding and nesting haven of the endangered marine turtles, the Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary, Municipality of Turtle Islands, Tawi Tawi, Philippines!
- The History
The Municpality of Turtle Islands in the early days belonged to the Sultanate of Sulu which had ruled the whole of Minadanao area including Sabah, the North Borneo Territory. Sabah, including the Turtle Islands, was ceded by the Sultan of Brunei to the Sultan of Sulu as a gift of gratitude for a victory over a rival Sultan in 1704.
The Turtle Islands (Islets) were leased by the Sultan of Sulu 0n 22 January 1878 to the British North Borneo Company. This group of islands became a part of the Philippines on 10 December 1898 by virtue of the Treaty of Paris betwee Spain and the United States of America.
The Lessee continued administering the islands under the 1932 United States – Great Britain Treaty to be relinguished to owner upon a year’s notice. The Turtle Islands was completely transferred to the Philippines by virtue of the Bates Treaty concluded on October 16, 1947.
The Repeat?
Great Bakungan Island Sold
The Great Bakungan Island was sold for THREE MILLION PESOS ONLY.
(See related post: Turtle Island Sold: Chronology and Analysis of Events)
Taganak Island Partly Sold
Part of Taganak Island was sold for TWO MILLION PESOS ONLY.
Are the other islands for sale or for lease?
Six Islands of the Municipality
The Turtle Islands Municipality, officially, consists of six (6) islands: Boan, Great Bakungan, Baguan, Lihiman, Taganak and Langaan.
An Island between the Sea and the Sky . . .
Where Turtle Nests . . .
and Hatchlings Go Free . . .
The Boan Island
Boan Island
Boan Island
Great Bakungan Island
Great Bakungan Island
Baguan Island
Baguan Island
The Lihiman Island
Lihiman Island
Lihiman Island
The Taganak Island: Partly Sold
Taganak Island
The Langaan Island
- Langaan Island
Turtle Islands: The Sea, the Agoho and the Sky
Langaan Island
Taganak Island
With the Sale of the Turtle Islands, Where Shall I Go?
With the Sale of the Turtle Islands, Where Shall I Go?
Will I hold on to what the NIPAS Law provides?
Am I protected by the NIPAS Law?
Are indigenous peoples and tenured migrants protected under the NIPAs Law?
Let us see some provisions of the Republic Act No. 7586 or the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992.
As definded in the NIPAS Law,
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Indigenous cultural community refers to a group of people sharing common bonds of language, customs, traditions and other distinctive cultural traits, and who have, since time immemorial, occupied, possessed and utilized a territory; (underscoring supplied)
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Tenured migrant communities are communities within protected areas which have actually and continuously occupied such areas for five (5) years before the designation of the same as protected areas in accordance with this Act and are solely dependent therein for subsistence; (underscoring supplied)
Here are some relevant provisions of the law:
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Section 9 Management Plans
There shall be a general management planning strategy to serve as guide in formulating individual plans for each protected area. The management planning strategy shall, at the minimum, promote the adoption and implementation of innovative management techniques including, if necessary, the concept of zoning, buffer zone management for multiple use and protection, habitat conservation and rehabilitation, diversity management, community organizing, socioeconomic and scientific researches, site-specific policy development, pest management, and fire control. The management planning strategy shall also provide guidelines for the protection of indigenous cultural communities, other tenured migrant communities and sites and for close coordination between and among local agencies of the Government as well as private sector. (underscoring supplied)
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Section 10 Administration and Management of the System
The National Integrated Protected Area System is hereby placed under the control and administration of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. For this purpose, there is hereby created a division in the regional offices of the Department to be called the Protected Areas and Wildlife Division in regions where protected areas have been established, which shall be under the supervision of a Regional Technical Director, and shall include subordinate officers, clerks, and employees as may be proposed by the Secretary, duly approved by the Department of Budget and Management, and appropriated for by Congress. The Service thus established shall manage protected areas and promote the permanent preservation, to the greatest extent possible of their natural conditions.
To carry out the mandate of this Act, the Secretary of the DENR is empowered to perform any and all of the following acts:
Control occupancy of suitable portions of the protected area and resettle outside of said area forest occupants therein, with the exception of the members of indigenous communities area; (underscoring supplied)
Section 13 Ancestral Lands and Rights Over Them
Ancestral lands and customary rights and interest arising shall be accorded due recognition. The DENR shall prescribe rules and regulations to govern ancestral lands within protected areas:
Provided, That the DENR shall have no power to evict indigenous communities from their present occupancy nor resettle them to another area without their consent:
Provided, however, That all rules and regulations, whether adversely affecting said communities or not, shall be subjected to notice and hearing to be participated in by members of concerned indigenous community. (underscoring supplied)
In short, AM I PROTECTED by the NIPAS Law?
But the children of the Governor of Tawi Tawi already bought the Great Bakungan Island for THREE MILLION PESOS? Are they indigenous peoples, too? Are they tenured migrants?
They may be indigenous (?), but they do not belong to the indigenous community in the Turtle Islands as defined by the NIPAS Law.
They may be considered migrants; they are from another municipality of the province, the Panglima Sugala; but they are not tenured migrants as defined by the NIPAS Law.
And part of the Taganak Island also bought by a retired senior police inspector for TWO MILLION PESOS?
And there may be more who bought part of the Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary.
So, do the Sahalis and the others who have bought the islands have the right to possess the Great Bakungan Island?
The government has already spoken.
But we need to see actions more than words.
The Secretary of the DENR is firm that Turtle Islands cannot be sold and the government is to run after the buyers and the sellers.
How long will it take the government to run after them?
It will take time. You are used to running at turtle-pace in Turtle Islands, so you just wait . . . and see . . .
- Endangered Species Too?
"This land is mine. God gave this land to me."
The Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary in Tawi Tawi, Philippines, consisting of the islands of Taganak, Great Bakungan, Baguan, Lihiman, Langaan, Boan and the surrounding waters, was declared a protected area in 1999. Prior to this, the area, together with 3 islands in Malaysia, was established as Turtle Islands Heritage Protected Area through a Memorandum of Agreement between the Republic of the Philippines and the Government of Malaysia dated May 31, 1996.
Evicted from My Sanctuary
It is sad to note that one of the islands, the Great Bakungan Island, was sold for P3 MILLION to the children of the Governor of the Province of Tawi Tawi.
There is no other option but to leave the sanctuary.
Allegedly, the sale was negotiated in 1997. About a year after, one of the children who had bought the island, Hon. Rejie M. Sahali (then Mayor of Panglima Sugala), endorsed through Provincial Development Council Resolution the declaration of the the Turtle Islands as a protected area.
I just do not have guns to fight for our right to stay in the sanctuary.
After the Turtle Islands had been declared a protected area in 1999, the Sahali’s still continued to pursue their interest in the Great Bakungan Island. Allegedly, final payment was made in 2007.
I just do not have a "thunderbull" to race with the bandits and the terrorists in my sanctuary.
Affidavit on the sale was executed on Janaury 30, 2007 but was subscribed and sworn to before an attorney only on March 28, 2008.
- “I die just when I see the dawn break . . .”
Protected Turtle in an Unprotected Sanctuary
The Municipality of Turtle Islands and the surrounding waters is our breeding and nesting sanctuary in the Tawi Tawi, Philippines. Officially, the municipality is composed of 6 islands: Taganak, Great Bakungan, Baguan, Boan, Lihiman and Langaan.
In 1991, one of the Turtle Islands group, Baguan Island, was declared as Marine Turtle Sanctuary by virtue of MNR (Ministry of Natural Resources) Administrative Order No. 08, series of 1991.
In 1995, the Sangguniang Bayan of the Municipality of Turtle Islands approved the Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary Initial Project Plan through an unnumbered Municipal Development Council Resolution and Sangguniang Bayan Resolution No. 04, series of 1995.
On May 31, 1996, the Republic of the Philipines entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the Government of Malaysia establishing the Turtle Islands Heritage Protected Area.
On August 11, 1998, the Provincial Development Council of Tawi Tawi passed Resolution No.04, series of 1998, endorsing the proposal for the proclamation of the Turtle Islands as a protected area under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS).
On August 26, 1999, Presidential Proclamation No. 171, declaring the Turtle Islands and the surrounding waters as a protected area (to be known as Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary), was issued.
Recently, the Municipality of Turtle Islands was disturbed by armed attacks. The lives and properties of inhabitants were threatened. New residents were coming in and the original occupants were displaced and evacuated to different parts of the islands, Tawi Tawi, Sulu, Zamboanga and to the neigboring Sabah, Malaysia. The Great Bakungan Island was attacked by armed men. One of the speedboats used by the “terrorists” was identified by residents as Thunderbull, a speedboat allegedly owned by the Governor of the Province of Tawi Tawi.
In a letter to HER EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO dated November 15, 2009, the Senior Citizens of Turtle Islands, Tawi Tawi indicated that
the new “owners” of the Protected Area sent from Panglima Sugala, Tawi-Tawi an administrator, with security sentinels, to the island in the person of an ex-policeman x x x who administers the island by anarchy, forcing every early occupant to follow his rule and putting those who disobey under threat of uprooting their houses and driving away from the island. He controls the crops cultivated by the occupants and imposing fine of 50 Malaysian Ringgit (700 Philippine Pesos equivalent) for anyone who harvests a piece of his coconut or papaya, claiming that everything in the island belongs to the new “owners”, the governor and his siblings.
THEN THE TRUTH CAME OUT, the Great Bakungan Island was sold for THREE MILLION PESOS to the children of the Governor of Tawi Tawi; namely Ruby Sahali-Tan, Rejie M. Sahali-Generale, Nurbert M. Sahali, and Nurjay M. Sahali.
The affidavit with waiver of rights on the Great Bakungan Island was executed in favor of the Sahali’s on 30 January 2007, but was subscribed and sworn to before an attorney only on 28 March 2008, more than a year after the document was executed.
The Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said that the sale was illegal. The Governor of Tawi Tawi, however, claimed that the sale was legal.
In his letter posted in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on 26 December 2009, the Governor indicated that the negotiation on the sale was made in 1997 and the downpayment was also made in 1997.
The Governor further wrote:
After my children completed the payment for the island in 2007, a waiver of rights was executed in their favor and they began to apply for a title to the property. However, their application was overtaken by the issuance, on Aug. 12, 1999, of Presidential Proclamation 171 which declared the whole municipality of Turtle Islands as Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary.
Please take note that the alleged final payment was made
- about 10 years after the alleged initial payment, and
- more than 7 years after the Turtle Islands had been declared as a protected area.
It is also very interesting to note that the then Mayor of Panglima Sugala (now ARMM Assemblywoman), Hon. Rejie M. Sahali, was among those who endorsed the initial protected area plan and the proposal for the proclamation of the Turtle Islands as protected area under the NIPAS through the Provincial Development Council Resolution No. 04, series of 1998 (dated August 11, 1998). The said resolution was approved by Provincial Governor Sadikul A. Sahali.
Other portions of the Turtle Islands have already been sold. One deed of absolute sale of unregistered real estate in the Turtle Islands executed on 18 September 1998 indicated a sale to a retired (?) Police Senior Inspector for TWO MILLION PESOS.
MAY WE NOW CALL ON ALL THE GOVERNMENT AGENCIES CONCERNED: Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of National Defense, Department of Justice, the Commission on Election, and the Office of the President to resolve the issues and conflicts arising from the sale of the Turtle Islands.
We do not just say . . . the sale is illegal . . . the government will run after the buyers and the sellers . . .
The Turtle Islands, its inhabitants – the people, the turtles and the protected species – need our action more than our words.
We would like to thank the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), the WWF (World Wildlife Fund for Nature), and the Mayor of Turtle Islands, Hon. Omarkhan H. Aripin for their support in protecting the Turtle Islands and the Turles in Tawi Tawi.
Let us end the year 2009 with a concern for the protection of the Protected Areas and the Protected Species (they seem to be unprotected) and start the year 2010 with a strong determination to fight for the rights of the Protected Areas and the Protected Species.
SAVE THE TURTLE ISLANDS, SAVE THE ENDANGERED MARINE TURTLES.
Pawikan
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Ang Bukang Liwayway
