THE YEAR 2024 opened with several of our conservation sites in south Oriental Mindoro reaping bountiful harvest on their shorelines with coastal residents literally picking juvenile sardines off shallow seagrass beds, loading them by the sack-loads. Such is the result of fruitful conservation partnerships from grassroots to the provincial level, through multi-faceted conservation strategies, backed on-site by relevant national agencies.

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The year 2023 was another year of many triumphs and trials, if you recall, in the first quarter of the year alone, a tanker oil spill affected a number of our south Oriental Mindoro conservation sites.  Nonetheless, with the collective efforts of partners and other parties, the worst is over and we continue our support to partner communities in helping overcome this tragedy.

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The year 2022 showed steady recovery from the impacts of Covid lockdowns, especially for some of our socio-economic improvement programs. Our marine conservation partnerships likewise continue to make consistent progress with regards to conservation management and biological improvements. However, as I deliver this report today March 15, 2023, we are in the midst of supporting oil spill response in south Oriental Mindoro which has negatively impacted some of our conservation sites in the province, particularly in the municipality of Pola, where thick sludge landed from the spill site of the sunken oil tanker.

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As we reflect on what 2021 was, let me say that Malampaya Foundation Inc (MFI) had a notable number of triumphs as part of outcomes from hard work between partners and ourselves. We also experienced setbacks in view of natural phenomenon over which we had no control. Nonetheless, there are a handful of successes to be thankful for:

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You have heard and it has been said countless times that 2020 was certainly a “unique” year. For all the challenges the year presented to the world, it was not different for Malampaya Foundation.

The year 2018 saw continuing growth in our programs’ impact, with several triumphs achieved, big and small.

By end-2017 this foundation is a dozen years in existence. We have another half-dozen years until SC 38’s end-of-license. Beyond this is still the foundation’s unknown future. Nonetheless, in the 12 years of the foundation’s journey we have learned many lessons, faced challenges, made various improvements and achieved a great number of goals.

In 2016, Malampaya Foundation’s 11th year since inception, we continued to implement programs aimed at fulfilling our vision to be “The model and leading foundation in the upstream energy sector enabling socio-economic development of communities and environmental protection in areas where Malampaya operates.”