A courtesy visit and meeting with Occidental Mindoro Governor Eduardo Gadiano was held last November 20, 2023 at his office with Tanggol Kalikasan senior legal adviser, Atty. Asis Perez, and livelihood consultant, Sally Bulatao together with current and former BFAR Provincial Fisheries Officers, Edgardo Payas and Ruperto Alforque.
Atty. Perez briefly discussed Tanggol Kalikasan’s project on Restoring the Resources for economic sustainability of the West Philippine Sea or the livelihood component of the RESTORE-WPS. This was followed by a consultative meeting with the Provincial Planning and Development Officer (PPDO), Anthony Dantis and Provincial Agriculturist, Alrizza Zubiri about the province's livelihood enterprise and priority programs.
A productive exchange of inputs and ideas was generated from the meeting with Governor Gadiano. He said that at present there is a pending Provincial Investment Incentive Code before the Sangguniang Panlalawigan. The same Investment Incentive Code was already passed and is now being implemented in his former mayoralty town in Sablayan. He said that Occidental Mindoro is also a supplier of tuna. For crops and other agricultural production, irrigation is one of the challenges in their province.
A short visit in the municipality of Paluan was also done to see the area of lambaklad and seaweeds production.
This project is supported by the USAID through the Gerry Roxas Foundation.