In ScienceKonek, we always advocate for the integration of science into communities to help them achieve a meaningful transformation. With what we have witnessed, this community in the southern end of Palawan is real-life proof of our long-held science advocacy!

As part of their visit to the beautiful island of Palawan last 11-13 January 2024, ScienceKonek officers also had a chance to visit a famous community located around 3.5 hours away from Puerto Princesa City. In the humble town of Bataraza, Palawan, lies Barangay Rio Tuba and the multi-awarded resource extraction company, Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp. (RTNMC).

The community led by the company is simple, yet very vibrant and teeming with multiple buildings to accommodate the various needs of the people. Aside from churches, the site also hosts several sports facilities, a market, schools, houses, guest lodges, a solid waste management facility, a hospital, and even a plane runway! What's happening here?

Through a multi-stakeholder engagement, experts and leaders from the company, the local government unity, and the local community collaborated to ensure that the projects established by the company will be led by and for the utmost benefit of the people.

To add, the leaders also ensured that the development would be inclusive even to our indigenous brothers and sisters by letting them participate in the planning and even preserving their culture.

From enforcing strict rules on waste management and safety to having free quality schools and a hospital, the fruit of decades of collaboration indeed transformed a supposedly stagnant and mosquito-infested land into a community now being considered one of the best mining models in Southeast Asia!

Going beyond the community, the officers also toured the actual resource extraction site and the world-class rehabilitation area that made the late former DENR Secretary Gina Lopez express the words "Kaya pala!" during her visit some years ago. The rehabilitation area was planned and executed with sustainability and local flora and fauna in mind.

The ScienceKonek officers were shown various plant species and structures, like mini parks, cottages, and agriculture and livestock facilities, that will soon be beneficial as a source of income for local communities.

Through this initiative, experts and community leaders are aiming to be self-sustaining even if the extraction process, which provided thousands of jobs, will end in the future.

The vast and science-led reforestation area was now teeming with life to the point that visitors will never be able to guess that those areas were mined out areas years ago!

We hope that many Filipinos will be able to witness the product of how unity between Science, the industry, and the local community, can bring forth a meaningful and sustainable transformation. Come and be inspired in Rio Tuba!