the beaches of elyu
how the coastal community can still come together before it's too late.
The beaches of San Juan, La Union - also colloquially called “Elyu” - are known for its waves ideal for surfing, but lately, the surf town has become more popular for the accompanying ‘party scene’. There’s a new annual tradition called “LaborUnion” for partying at the beach on May 1, which is Labor Day in the Philippines. Previously, the go-to for the holiday was Boracay, a small island renowned for its pristine white sand, and they would call it “LaBoracay”.
As a child, I spent many summers in Visayas to visit family, and we would often go to Boracay. Over the years, I witnessed the establishment of new resorts, the pavement of more roads; the overall loss of natural spaces in favor of gentrification. I haven’t been there recently, perhaps not in ten years or so, but there are still news of its continued development - lately, it’s been about the government-sanctioned casinos to supposedly augment funds for its pandemic response. Whenever I see pictures of how Boracay is now, my immediate response is usually sadness over the loss of its natural beauty.
I’ve visited San Juan before and even wrote about my previous trips in my old blog. As this is my fourth visit in the past five years, I can see the same trend happening to this small coastal community - new developments, more tourists, overall gentrification - but I believe there is still hope that it won’t end up with the same fate as Boracay.
Home of the Pawikan
WATCH: ‘Pawikan Patrollers’, the newly released I-Witness documentary on the Pawikans of La Union
Perhaps one key difference between the two beaches is that San Juan has historically been nesting grounds for sea turtles - locally known as “pawikan”. The Philippines has one of the most biodiverse environments in the world and five of seven marine turtle species can be found in our waters. Sea turtles will lay their eggs at the beach and the little hatchlings will crawl into the waters about two months later, explore the oceans, and then find their way back to the same beach as adults and lay their eggs there. This means that these sea turtles have considered San Juan as their home for generations.
Every year, from the month of October to January, mother olive ridley sea turtles return to the shores of La Union where they were born, to nest and lay their eggs to continue the lineage of the next generation. Tens to hundreds of turtle eggs are hidden underneath sandy nest cavities where they are set to hatch after about two months, or 40 to 70 days. Yet despite their eggs being seemingly well-hidden underground, it is also within this period that these fragile marine creatures are the most vulnerable from egg poachers, predators such as cats, and the unprecedented tides due to sea-level rise. With the help of the local community, Project Curma, along with the turtle rangers, patrols the coastline and secures turtle nests from unwarranted dangers every single day. The patrol members venture past midnight before dawn with their flashlights to track the inconspicuous footsteps of adult sea turtles. Once a turtle nest has been discovered, they carefully collect the eggs in the same position, angle and slope of the nest, to make sure that the incubation phase is not altered in any way, where the eggs are tightly secured in the nesting grounds of Project Curma.
- from ‘A voice for our turtles’ by Gab Mejia
I visited the hatchery of Project CURMA or Coastal Underwater Resource Management Actions, a Pawikan Conservation and Protection Program, and I was able to talk to their Director Carlos Tamayo about how the program started, the challenges they’ve faced, and what they want to happen moving forward so that the habitat of the turtles aren’t affected as much by human development. Just this month of November alone, they’ve been able to safely transfer at least 600 eggs for safekeeping with the help of their “Pawikan Patrol” composed of local volunteer fishermen - some of which were previously poachers but has since been educated on the important role of sea turtles in our oceans. He told me that last season had the highest number of released hatchlings, likely because the pandemic put a halt on human activities on the beach. With no tourists and no bright lights from parties, the turtles came back to the quiet comfort of their home.
He stressed that the coastal community has really come together for environmental conservation and how the local government has also expressed their support for these projects; but we both agreed that there were still some ways to go before we find the right balance for tourism and turtle conservation. One challenge is maintaining the beaches so that the sea turtles will continue to nest there for years to come. Another challenge is making sure that the waters where they will spend the rest of their life in are actually livable for them.
Material Streams to our Oceans
If you live in Metro Manila like me, you might have encountered one of these ads by the brand Personal Collection. It reads, “A single piece of plastic can kill sea turtles. We Are Sorry. Never Again.” and “Don’t let your waste reach the oceans. Dispose properly in landfills.”
The first time I saw the giant tarpaulin ad along EDSA gave me whiplash in the sense that it was the most awful example of greenwashing I have ever seen in person.
“Greenwashing is the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company's products are more environmentally sound. Greenwashing is considered an unsubstantiated claim to deceive consumers into believing that a company's products are environmentally friendly.” (definition from investopedia)
Just from telling consumers to properly dispose in landfills is enough to let me know that whoever was in charge of marketing this product has no idea about simple waste management hierarchy, because disposal in landfills is supposed to be a last resort. The unfortunate thing is that people with less material knowledge will believe in this kind of advertisement. I could go on about the levels of wrongness here, but for now, let’s focus on the one true thing in their poster - plastics do have a profound effect on marine life, often resulting in their death.
For coastal communities, proper management of material streams is important because improperly managed waste will directly lead to the oceans. One beachside cafe in San Juan called Clean Beach “strive(s) to keep our beach clean by incorporating simple, sustainable, and habit-changing practices in our shop’s day-to-day operations.” They provide baskets you can use to help pick up trash along the beach, and they’ll give you a drink in exchange for your hard work out in the sun.
As a materials engineer, my instinct when I pick up stuff on my morning walks is to identify what they are. While some of them were washed up on shore tangled in seaweed and driftwood, most of them were actually left behind by other visitors: chip bags, face masks, cigarette butts, plastic cups. I actually encountered another volunteer group that Sunday morning also doing a coastal cleanup with sacks and gloves. While coastal cleanups are good in its immediate effects for its environment, they are in the larger picture a band-aid solution. What we need is long-term action in addressing the underlying issues of how these waste end up in the ocean and our beaches in the first place.
The Clean Coasts Project is a funded project by the Coca-Cola Foundation Inc in partnership with the local government units of the cities in La Union that “aims to promote sustainable plastic waste management along coastal barangays ultimately benefiting the tourism sector, fisherfolk, residents and the public that partake of the bounty of the sea.” With this comprehensive project that include educating the public, regularly scheduled cleanups, and consistent initiatives for materials recovery, I believe that La Union can truly pioneer being stewards for the environment in the face of progress and development.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Sir Carlos told me that resort developments have been moving up North from the original beach front of Urbiztondo up to Bacnotan, with their path directly in the way of the nesting grounds of the Pawikans. We both remain optimistic that these developments will be built more sustainably, especially if the LGU’s remain vigilant in enforcing proper zoning laws and using new technology.
But with regards to material streams, the question I get most often is: What can we do now? In San Juan, I saw most dining establishments have switched to more sustainable packaging, like El Union Coffee using Kraft cups instead of plastic cups. However, this is all performative if these cups will end up in the same bin as other waste. In the open dining area, I only saw one bin that had coffee cups with ice, coconut shells, plastic utensils, plates with food; all the waste - biodegradable, recyclable, and compostable - mixed in together.
What the establishments of San Juan can do now to lessen the overall waste and to recover as much materials as possible is provide more bins, enforce segregation schemes, and establish materials recovery facilities in the community. An example of where this post-consumer waste can go is the creation of upcycled furniture. Last year, Dow Chemicals Philippines and Philippine Business for Social Progress worked with Sentinel UpCycling Technologies to provide school chairs to Amontoc Elementary School and to Antonino Memorial Elementary School in San Gabriel, La Union. The solutions are there, but we have to address these gaps to get proper results.
And that’s it for my writeup for La Union 2021! Thank you for reading so far. To learn more on my efforts to establish and maintain community-based MRFs, please visit my Facebook page Ideal Materials PH.
Some bonus tourist stuff:
San Juan, La Union Visit: November 20 - 22, 2021
Where We Stayed: 134 Beachfront Beds by Urbiz Garden
Food places I would recommend:
Clean Beach (literally anything off their menu is great! best drinks on the beach!)
La Gula (new dessert place! really great sweets!!)
Olas Banditos (but they were closed this visit)
Gefseis Greek Grill (they were closed also)