Fisherfolk honor slain Bantay Dagat leader
T. Dimaano Jr.
ABS-CBN News Philippines
OLONGAPO CITY - Kapitan Sixto died a month ago in a small fishing village in barangay Bagong Silang in Calatagan, Batangas.
His death was not an ordinary affair for Calatagan fisherfolk. It was a very meaningful death because the fisheries sector cherished the man who sacrificed his life to protect the resources from the sea.
Kapitan Sixto was remembered Wednesday by the more than 100 fisherfolk delegates to the three-day Community-Based Coastal Resource Management (CBCRM) Festival held at Subic Bay Free Port Zone.
Kapitan Sixto, whose real name is Sixto Atienza, was the barangay chairman of Bagong Silang. He had been transformed from being a staunch enemy of the fisherfolk of the village to that of a defender of coastal resource management.
When he was elected barangay chief in 1994, Kapitan Sixto was declared “enemy” of the Samahan ng Maliliit na mga Mangingisda sa Calatagan (SAMMACA), which was involved in mangrove planting to rehabilitate the then depleted coastal resources of the area.
The mangrove planting project then was considered by Kapitan Sixto as against the interest of his rich constituents in the coastal area, where the project is being undertaken. This scenario lasted for years, while the members of SAMMACA never thought that Kapitan Sixto would soon join them in protecting the organization’s CBCRM program.
True enough, he joined a number of training on rehabilitation and protection of coastal resources in the area, and later volunteered in the formation of a Bantay Dagat (sea watchmen) that would protect and defend the fish-sanctuary project of SAMMACA from illegal fishers. He also embraced the principles of CBCRM.
Illegal fishing then was too rampant that the local folk described it like having a fiesta everyday because of the explosions from simultaneous dynamite fishing.
But Kapitan Sixto, who was the team leader of the Bantay Dagat group, never stopped arresting the illegal fishers, which resulted in numerous threats on his life. On the dawn of May 3 he was shot dead by still unidentified assassins.
The story of Kapitan Sixto was just one of the hundreds of fisherfolk in the country who sacrificed their lives to propagate the principles of CBCRM. But for the delegates of the festival, they wanted the noble deeds of Kapitan Sixto become an example for the people involved in protecting the country’s coastal resources.
The festival delegates also honored Edwin Arapoc, Charles “Zaldy” Balios and Arturo “Arting” Tumangob in a simple ceremony.
The three, according to Evelyn Villareal of the NGOs for Fisheries Reform, are languishing in jail, ironically, for protecting the Mison Sea Sanctuary, a Coastal Conservation Program in Danao Bay, Misamis Occidental in Mindanao. They were charged with murder when they shot dead a poacher into the sanctuary.
T. Dimaano Jr.
ABS-CBN News Philippines
OLONGAPO CITY - Kapitan Sixto died a month ago in a small fishing village in barangay Bagong Silang in Calatagan, Batangas.
His death was not an ordinary affair for Calatagan fisherfolk. It was a very meaningful death because the fisheries sector cherished the man who sacrificed his life to protect the resources from the sea.
Kapitan Sixto was remembered Wednesday by the more than 100 fisherfolk delegates to the three-day Community-Based Coastal Resource Management (CBCRM) Festival held at Subic Bay Free Port Zone.
Kapitan Sixto, whose real name is Sixto Atienza, was the barangay chairman of Bagong Silang. He had been transformed from being a staunch enemy of the fisherfolk of the village to that of a defender of coastal resource management.
When he was elected barangay chief in 1994, Kapitan Sixto was declared “enemy” of the Samahan ng Maliliit na mga Mangingisda sa Calatagan (SAMMACA), which was involved in mangrove planting to rehabilitate the then depleted coastal resources of the area.
The mangrove planting project then was considered by Kapitan Sixto as against the interest of his rich constituents in the coastal area, where the project is being undertaken. This scenario lasted for years, while the members of SAMMACA never thought that Kapitan Sixto would soon join them in protecting the organization’s CBCRM program.
True enough, he joined a number of training on rehabilitation and protection of coastal resources in the area, and later volunteered in the formation of a Bantay Dagat (sea watchmen) that would protect and defend the fish-sanctuary project of SAMMACA from illegal fishers. He also embraced the principles of CBCRM.
Illegal fishing then was too rampant that the local folk described it like having a fiesta everyday because of the explosions from simultaneous dynamite fishing.
But Kapitan Sixto, who was the team leader of the Bantay Dagat group, never stopped arresting the illegal fishers, which resulted in numerous threats on his life. On the dawn of May 3 he was shot dead by still unidentified assassins.
The story of Kapitan Sixto was just one of the hundreds of fisherfolk in the country who sacrificed their lives to propagate the principles of CBCRM. But for the delegates of the festival, they wanted the noble deeds of Kapitan Sixto become an example for the people involved in protecting the country’s coastal resources.
The festival delegates also honored Edwin Arapoc, Charles “Zaldy” Balios and Arturo “Arting” Tumangob in a simple ceremony.
The three, according to Evelyn Villareal of the NGOs for Fisheries Reform, are languishing in jail, ironically, for protecting the Mison Sea Sanctuary, a Coastal Conservation Program in Danao Bay, Misamis Occidental in Mindanao. They were charged with murder when they shot dead a poacher into the sanctuary.
