Table 1. Total Population of Tagbanwa-occupied Barangays in 1995
BARANGAY
Total Population
1
Banwang Daan
489
2
Buenavista
492
3
Bulalacao
1,826
4
Cabugao
1,539
5
Decabobo
592
6
Decalachao
761
7
Lajala
798
8
Malawig
435
9
Marcilla
914
10
11
Tara
Turda
824
1,559
10,229
Source: 1995 National Census of Population and Housing
History
The Tagbanwa Foundation of Coron Island or TFCI was organized in 1985 as a response to three issues
that confronted the Tagbanwa community: 1) the public bidding or subasta of the Tagbanwa clan
caves carried out by the municipal government; 2) the influx of migrant settlers into Coron Island, most
especially into Delian Island; and, 3) the issuance of tax declarations by the municipal assessor on parcels
of Tagbanwa land to outsiders.
The Calamian Tagbanwa homeland was once host to rich, diverse, unique and ecologically intact marine
and terrestrial ecosystems unrivaled in Southeast Asia. Anthropologists from the National Museum,
marine scientists from the University of Georgia as well as the national program for the Integrated
Protected Areas (IPAs) have deemed the area one of the richest in terms of biological diversity, featuring
tropical lakes that may be unique in the world. It is also one of the largest sources of economically
important marine life and remains a major supplier of marine products to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Manila,
Lucena, Malabon, Mindoro, Cebu and other Visayan islands.
Yet the onslaught of dynamite and cyanide fishing has changed all that. Major coral reef systems that had
sustained generations of Calamian Tagbanwa communities for hundreds of years have now been reduced
to rubble. Large swathes of coral reefs surrounding ancestral islands have been chemically poisoned and
killed. The entry of large duldog or muro-ami boats have pounded and destroyed large reef areas. At the
same time, large “superlights” ventures have indiscriminately harvested fish and other marine life such
as dolphins within the 15-kilometer zone.
Efforts to stop illegal fishing were undertaken by municipal authorities and the Palawan Council for
Sustainable Development (PCSD) through “Bantay Dagat,” a multi-sectoral task force that involved
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