law enforcement, political executives, people’s organizations and NGOs. Implementation was critically challenged at the local level due to the vast area that had to be policed; the limited resources for law enforcement; and the fact that in not a few instances, the perpetrators spent only a day or two in jail and were later released with no charges filed. After facing grave threats and personal hardship in arresting violators, many local officials from Tagbanwa barangays were soon discouraged by Bantay Dagat’s uneven enforcement within ancestral waters. Tagbanwa elders and community leaders faced the very possibility of being forced to abandon their ancestral islands as the marine environment, which had served as their life support system, was evidencing signs of severe stress. Between 1989 and 1995, the average fish catch around Tagbanwa islands had been reduced to less than half the former capacity. The diversity of fish and other marine species was also noticeably dwindling. Meanwhile, waves of migrant fisherfolk as well as large fish contractors from Lucena, Mindoro, Cebu and other Visayan islands began to overwhelm the area. Yet graver issues were threatening the viability of their ancestral islands to support their families and communities. In the early 1970s, the municipal government of Coron announced that it was seizing all the clan caves in Coron Island and declaring them as its property. As such, all the clan caves were to be auctioned off (subasta) to raise revenue for the municipal treasury, and the winning bidder assumed ownership of the swiftlet nests harvested within. In an instant, the Tagbanwas of Coron Island were reduced from being owners and sellers to gatherers paid for their labor. In yet another campaign to raise the tax effort of the treasury, the municipal government auctioned off tax declarations which had lapsed with their payments. Titled areas are a rarity in Coron since nearly all lands are unclassified areas of the public domain. Instead, tax declarations are issued as receipt of improvements on government land. However, certain political executives had taken the view that tax declarations were proofs of ownership of the land itself. Since most of the Tagbanwas could not afford the annual payments dictated by the municipal treasury, many of their tax declarations were auctioned off to tourist resort developers, real estate agents, and the like. The buyers, convinced that they had gained rights over the land, attempt to evict Tagbanwa families from holdings which had been occupied or used by communities since time immemorial, for example white sand beach properties. However, in other Calamian Tagbanwa communities, tourist resort developers simply grabbed lands and evicted entire Tagbanwa sitios after securing contracts from local Department of Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (DENR) units. Pasture lease agreements issued on ancestral islands had been granted by the City of Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) to local political leaders such as mayors and municipal councilors. A pattern of political patronage in exchange for contracts and permits for the extraction and use of natural resources was emerging. From the early 1990s, the pressure on the Tagbanwa to leave their islands and give way to tourist resort owners and developers began to intensify. The entry of tourists into their homelands also caused grave concern for the safety of their children who remain free to roam the islands and forage for food without fear. 9