One of those times that we went snorkelling at Hilutungan Reef off the coast of Mactan Island, Cebu.

There are still corals in that reef but it is in a very sad state. It has been said that the area is being developed by a Korean firm and they are planning to rehabilitate the place. In order to achieve this, this firm, authorised by the local government to collect fee for those who enter the area, whether snorkelling or scuba diving.

I have been swimming around this area for several years now but all I noticed is that everytime I go in the water, there are plenty of corals destroyed and a lot of materials that is foreign underwater. I can see more damage than rehab or repair.

There is a change on the island of Hilutungan though. There is this building now that looked like a restaurant. Maybe that's where the money went.

There are still many fish in the area but anemone fish or clownfish, the fish popularised in the movie Finding Nemo, are getting rarer. Before,whenever i go snorkelling,i would always see at least 3 to 5 groups of clownfish. Recently,there are times that i can't find anything...this is really sad.

I hope and pray that whoever or whatever group is trying to rehabilitate the area would really fix it. It would take a while for corals to grow. I hope that the next generation could still see in their natural habitat these fish, not in the aquariums or worse...in books.