Pawikan Festival

I haven’t seen a live pawikan yet.  If they were in the zoo when I was a little kid, then maybe I already had.  Still, I love them.  Probably because of some little facts I have learned from a training I had a few years back.

I am not from Bataan.  I don’t even have relatives or close friends there (as far as I know).  I just want to post here and share to the world that hey, we have a Pawikan Festival in the Philippines! (I received this invitation through my e-mail as I contacted them months ago — for work.  Cool.  Hehe.)

So check this:

THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT OF BATAAN

in cooperation with

BATAAN TOURISM COUNCIL FOUNDATION, MUNICIPALITY OF MORONG, BANTAY PAWIKAN, INC. and ROCKED

invites you to the 

PAWIKAN FESTIVAL 2007

November 29-30, 2007

Pawikan Conservation Ceneter

Brgy. Nagbalayong,

Morong, Bataan

Introduction:

Established in September of 1999, the Community-based Pawikan Conservation in Bataan, Philippines depicts a picture of how big a small community effort translates development – man working for nature for a healthy co-existence not only for the present but for the future.  A community of poachers and turtle egg collectors now transformed into marine turtle conservation advocates is continuously taking on the challenge of protecting and conserving the remaining Olive Ridley species, the smallest of the eight species in the world.  For a long period, eggs of these endemic marine turtles were collected while some nesters were poached that served as one primary source of livelihood for the community.  The meager income provided by the trade helped them to send their kids to schools, buy food, pay their debts among many others notwithstanding the damage they were inflicting to the balance of the marine biodiversity.  Over time, nesters became fewer and the nesting season became shorter.

Now, after a few years of the project framed in an in-situ conservation scheme and highlighting the importance of community participation after a comprehensive capacity building work, the endangered turtles are slowly flourishing.  This time, their fate lies in the hands of the people who use to exploit them now equipped with the awareness of their importance in the marine ecosystem, the community’s most important life-support base.  Since 1999, the Bantay Pawikan had released more than 40,000 hatchlings back to the sea.

The Pawikan Festival

For the past years, the Bantay Pawikan, Inc. and the Morong local government unit have been conducting the Pawikan Festival during the last week of November. Now on its third year, the Bataan Tourism Council Foundation, Inc. in cooperation with the Provincial Tourism Office, had organized series of activities that aims to generate awareness and gather funds for the continuous development and rehabilitation of the conservation center. This symbolic celebration will hopefully bring sustainable progress to Bataan in terms of safeguarding the natural environment and unify people from all walks of life under the preservation program.

 

 

DAY 1 SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES

  

7:00AM–12:00NN    STREET DANCE COMPETITION     

                                      Morong Town Plaza                                                                

                                                                       

9:00 AM                 VOLLEYBALL   (Elimination)                                                       

9:00 – 10:00 AM        NATURE’S CAMP                             

2:00 – 3:00 PM           (Lecture & Film Showing)                    

3:30 – 4:30 PM           

7:00 – 11:00 PM       PAWIKAN PATROLLING                 

 

 

DAY 2 SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES

 

                                                                       

5:00 AM    ”SAVE THE PAWIKAN”  WALK FOR A CAUSE  (Nagbalayong      Highschool to Pawikan Center)                                                                    

8:00 AM   RELEASING OF PAWIKAN HATCHLINGS   

9:00 AM   KITE FLYING COMPETITION 

9:00 AM   BEACH VOLLEYBALL COMPETITION (Finals)

9:00 AM   SAND SCULPTURE COMPETITION                                     

9:00 AM   PADDLE PAINTING CONTEST                                

10:00 -11:00 AM    NATURE’S CAMP                             

2:00 – 3:00 PM       (Lecture & Film Showing)                    

4:00 – 5:00 PM       Pawikan Conservation Center                                                   

                                                                                               

3:00 PM                  BODY PAINT CONTEST                  

                                                                                               

7:00 PM                 BEACH CONCERT featuring the CHILLITEES, SOUND and other MANILA ARTISTS           

  

For any queries pls. contact the Provincial Tourism Office/ BTCFI Secretariat at (047) 237 4785/ 237 4476/ 0919 481 3959 or email: tourism_bataan@yahoo.com,  and look for Ms. Rochelle R. Palaypay.

You could also visit our website   http://www.bataan.gov.ph/ for downloadable forms and details. 

Explore…Experience… and Enjoy… Bataan