Known as “The Last Frontier”, Palawan is the island province that considers itself to be the largest forest cover in the country. It is where only a few natural disasters occur. Not much earthquakes were recorded. And hardly visited by typhoons.
Palawan has been hailed as “the World’s Best Island” in 2013, 2016 and 2017 by the Travel + Leisure, and No. 1 in 2013 and 2015, and second in 2017, respectively, by the Condé Nast Travel Magazine. It also received the “readers’ choice” award by the National Geographic Traveler. More than these, in the eyes of many, Palawan is a haven of natural flora and fauna with islands that are seemingly untarnished, untouched and captivating.
But unknown to all, Palawan is in danger – with the increase in construction activities brought about by the industrialization and influx of people, the landscape is rapidly changing. We may ask ourselves, where are we heading? Is the “Last Frontier” in peril?
There are unverified talks of plans to make Palawan as a little Singapore or a little Hong Kong. This seemed to be farfetched, but may be real, as well. Can Palawan withstand the total makeover and metamorphosis brought about, if ever, by this plan?
Let’s take a look at Singapore.
It is a small country in a limited geographical location. Founded in 1819, more than 95% of its approximated 590 square kilometers of vegetation has been totally eradicated. This is because of the urbanization and industrialization. Furthermore, a published study on Annihilation of Nature: Human Extinction of Birds and Mammals claimed that “61 of its original 91 bird species has been lost leading to many native foreign plants not being able to reproduce because of loss of speed dispersal and pollination.”
On top of that, air and water pollution used to be threats to their country where they consider it as critical and important not to ignore by using control measures to prevent further harm to their environment.
As an entrepot or transshipment port, Hong Kong is another example, on how it endured that changing industrialization post war during the 1950s and 1960s. The autonomous region is small and is affected by the environmental conditions brought about by industrialization, increase in population and economic development resulting to further environmental deterioration, particularly to air quality and water quality.
In spite of these, both states have flourished dramatically and are economic hubs not only in South East Asia, but in the world, as a whole. Both Singapore and Hong Kong are epicenters of growing industries from all sectors.
We may fail to fully compare these two to Palawan, but when we talk about environmental protection and economic viability, we are always in a conundrum.
True enough, industrialization has negative impacts, especially when we try to transform a certain piece of land into a commercial entity, where we need to ensure that we prevent further damage to the environment and control the effects of pollutants.
But we always believe that we can achieve economic development without damaging the environment. And this is possible if the government has the political will without undermining the existing laws of the land – laws that protect us, inhabitants, not to favor the greedy and the oligarchs.