Even as a kid, Mary Jean Tabañera knew about scuba diving. She would see divers every day visiting their world-renowned Apo Island, off the coast of Dauin in Negros Oriental.
But actually becoming a scuba diver was just a dream for her and her peers in their fishing village. Diving gear and the cost of a certification course were simply beyond their reach.
That all changed six years ago when the former barangay captain of Apo Island, Mario Pascobello, decided to train the village kids. Tabañera was in high school when she first started the Open Water dive course in 2013, together with 24 other kids in Apo.
Pascobello is also a dive instructor who runs Mario’s Scuba Diving — one of the dive shops in the island. He thought of training the village kids so they could be able to guide tourists in dive activities.
“They were passing around this blank sheet for kids like me who were interested to learn diving. That time, I was helping my uncle in his dive resort as waitress/server/cleaner. But I got interested in diving because I realized I had nothing to say to tourists whenever they would ask me about diving in Apo,” Tabañera recalled. She said that as kids, they were only always swimming and playing in the sea but did not have the skills for anything else in the water.
Tabañera was in the third batch of students who signed up in her uncle’s Future Apo Kids Program in 2013.
“At first, our aim was just to keep the children productive during their summer break,” Pascobello said. “Through the years, some kids lost interest, others got pregnant and had to attend to their newborn, but a number of them have continued to train with us,” he added.
Pascobello’s program got a boost in 2014 when he tied up with a French group called Plongeurs du Monde (Divers of the World) to enhance his program by providing their dive training services and some equipment for free.
Pascobello said they devised a more substantial training program to include environmental awareness, with the support of then Dauin Municipal Mayor Rodrigo Alanano.
Tabañera remembers training days these past five summers as “harsh”. She said it was hard to be under the heat of the sun, and plunging deep into the cold waters, then resurfacing under the heat.
“Underwater, we were taught skills like buoyancy, how to equalize, how to clear our masks, and tank regulator recovery,” she recounted excitedly.
She said she used to worry about getting sun-burned. “It’s not a joke for a girl to be so dark from too much sun; but once you complete at least one dive course, you get so exhilarated you forget about the sunburn,” Tabañera said.
She said she would always convince her friends: “Tan will fade; memories last forever.”
The courses continued every summer until Tabañera, now 21 and a Hotel & Restaurant Management major at Foundation University in Dumaguete, together with five other Apo youth, got certified as Dive Masters associated with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI).
Aside from Tabañera, the first batch of full-fledged Dive Masters who went through a 15-day intensive training this summer include: Sheim Grace Alam-alam, Mark Cyrel Mendez, Joery Suan, Gerald Tuayon, and Justin Lloyd de Vera.
As dive masters, they can organize dive trips, conduct and supervise recreational diving activities as dive guides, and assist dive instructors in conducting training programs and activities for certified divers. They can also serve as emergency first responders.
“I am scared but I am excited,” Tabañera said of her new role as Dive Master.
Fourteen other youth completed courses for Advanced Open Water and Emergency First Response (EFR).
“Hope floats for these promising young deep-sea divers who honed not only the nitty-gritty of scuba diving but also deepened their appreciation of marine life,” said Laurent Martin, head of Plongeurs Philippine Mission during the graduation ceremonies held in Apo Island.
The advocacy of teaching diving to children in coastal communities started when divers from France, Switzerland, and Belgium got together to train families devastated by the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka. They have since expanded their activities to Apo Island where they have been diving annually since 2011.
“We’d like to help raise their awareness for the protection of the environment, and attain economic freedom by gaining a professional skill in diving,” said 61-year old Roger Gugliemi, a Plongeurs founding member.
This year’s dive training program included site visits to a sugar mill in Sta. Catalina, a landfill in Bayawan City, and at the Silliman University Marine Laboratory and the AY Reyes Zoological & Botanical Garden of the SU Center for Tropical Conservation Studies.
Lectures included topics on marine protection, marine ecology, fish behavior by the SU Angelo King Center for Research & Environmental Management; and wildlife composting and the terrestrial environment by the Environmental Management Bureau.
The graduation rites were attended by the Department of Environment & Natural Resources, the Department of Tourism from Manila, and the Negros Oriental Provincial Tourism Office led by Myla Mae Bromo-Abellana.
“The training for professional diving is a great way to keep the young people from illegal drugs, and provide them with opportunities for career advancement,” stressed Pascobello. (Irma Faith Pal, SU Research & Environmental News Service)
