Strategic Action for the Seaweed Industry in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, Philippines

Abstract

The Philippines is one of the top producers of seaweed in the world and 91% of its farm area is situated in the province of Tawi-Tawi. However, the country’s seaweed production has been declining over the years due to various factors. This study focused on identifying a strategic action that will highly influence the sustainability of the seaweed industry in the province through capitalizing on the public and private collaborations. This study has taken the perspective of focusing on the integrative authority of a Local Government Unit (LGU) as a supreme governing body of a locality and utilized an organizational approach in addressing the core issue. In the province of Tawi-Tawi, almost all the marine products or around 8,000 tons are being transshipped through the ports of Bongao annually. Bongao is the de-facto capital municipality of the province and acts as a conduit of development in the provincial, regional, and national seaweed productions. On the other hand, the LGU of Bongao has been heavily dependent on the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) and needs diversified income streams. One area it can provide potential service deliveries is facility support to the major industry in the province through local enterprises. This service modality will provide an encompassing benefit towards addressing the overarching issues in the seaweed industry and improve the financial health of the LGU. The analytical tools that were applied are the Problem Tree Analysis (PTA) and Objective Tree Analysis (OTA). The PTA was used to identify the major constraint and the corresponding causes and effects within the scope of the situational analysis. The OTA was employed to determine the strategic action needed through targeting the core issue in the PTA.