The Life of Councilor Armin Marin

MANILA, Philippines — Town Councilor Armin Marin clearly understood how dependent Sibuyanons were on the exceptional ecology that characterized their island home. For him, people came first. He understood that without people’s support, conservation would be a losing battle. He was a realist.

A civil engineer by training, Armin spent most of his adult life in the service of his island. His first brush with public service was as kagawad of his own barangay, Espana.

Then, from 1997 to 2002, he worked with the Philippine chapter of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as a community organizer and farm supervisor, overseeing livelihood projects for poor communities in Espana and other barangays in San Fernando’s northern sector.

After his exposure to WWF, Armin continued his service to his island, working with Fundacion Santiago on a project with the Department of Agrarian Reform, as a project supervisor for institutional development and cooperative formation.

He saw Sibuyan evolve, from the time its economy was almost entirely dependent on illegal logging, through the years of out-migration, through the introduction of a conservation ethic.

Marin understood that the solution was not simple. He also understood that unless Sibuyanons took it upon themselves to change things, his island home would vanish and everything he gave his life to, would be for nothing.

source: Inquirer.net