REGEN | Full Episode | May 6, 2026

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:33]It was a barren place without the ocean, without the coral reefs. Humans cannot survive.

[00:00:46]>> Vast, endless, thriving, beneath the calm waters of the Davo Gulf hides a world few truly see.

[00:00:56]Home to one of the richest marine ecosystems in the Philippines.

[00:01:03]Teamming with beautiful coral gardens and diverse marine life species.

[00:01:10]Yet a silent battle is unfolding within this delicate wonder.

[00:01:15]The underwater world is under threat from pollution, explosives, and destructive fishing. The marine ecosystems once bursting with life and colors are fading. But not everyone turned away.

[00:01:31]In a small corner of the Davo Gulf within the Davo Gulf Divers Marine Park in Copyat Island, a small group chose to dive deep to bring life back to a reef considered lost.

[00:01:47]In this special voyage, we dive deep into the story of the Davo Gulf divers, the local heroes of the reef. their work a reminder about what it means to care for a world we barely understand but deeply need Ghost nets, broken corals. That's what the Davo Golf divers noticed and what pushed them to act.

[00:02:49]They are not marine professionals by trade, but a group of divers bound by one thing. Their love for the ocean.

[00:03:00]>> Behind every corals planted is a story armed with nothing but gear and grit.

[00:03:07]For ino Taho, it started with a single dive in the ocean he calls home.

[00:03:13]>> I am Inigo Tahoe. I am the president of Davo Golf Divers. I remember first dive other than to a new world.

[00:03:25]It was very familiar.

[00:03:31]So directed feeling I'm at home at in the ocean. We've been working with the ocean since 2019, but I became a diver 2016. It's a personal connection to the ocean. After 2016, regular dives, fun dives, and it's a not a well-known diving area. So something wrong traces of dynamite fishing cyanide fishing ghost nets everywhere every after dive.

[00:04:19]What if we do something about it? So discuss until focus.

[00:04:42]So 2020 whole group coral frame. So we did our first coral frame sur 10 frames to uh using our own resources and fulfilling result it was after maybe 3 months grow corals and the fish came backers 20 moto to 2020 officially um register golf divers and until now five 6 years doing this.

[00:05:34]Behind this growing movement are people coming from different walks of life.

[00:05:39]Divers, firefighters, professionals, government workers. Each one plays a role. Each one brings something vital to the mission.

[00:05:51]>> DGD is a scuba diving organization. The same with other organization. We gather together for a recreational purpose.

[00:06:02]What sets us apart is we go in in depth about our passion which is marine conservation. So these are different uh walks of life business.

[00:06:15]We have office personnel, LGU members and then we come together.

[00:06:23]We select a area which is already a marine protected area but we conserve a little a little spot of the area and then we do it with passion plus advices of science.

[00:06:41]Struggles at first but later on We keep on working. We keep we keep in doing our our passion because they started with three or five divers after diving.

[00:07:13]With each passing year, the group scaled up, training more divers, building more frames, and expanding the group's reach.

[00:07:22]With this resource, expand workforce. Uh we train including Nina train more scuba diver, dive masters, train more rescue divers, more advanced divers, and more divers to help us with the the project. And 2023 we started the reef 35 which we we went and then also the 61 um coral trees were installed dto sa DMP the red baram mundi davo golf divers flagship for conservation and rescue operations heads to Davo Golf Divers Marine Park. They carry not only tanks and gears but fragments of life. Corals ready to be transplanted to a new home in a growing underwater garden.

[00:08:14]>> Today mga mag transplant we will get fragments from reef 35. We made reef 35 around 2023.

[00:08:25]Reef 35 are coral frames. 35 coral frames fragments from the area lang po.

[00:08:37]So cut into fragments then put into the corals. It's part of our regular program of our whole year program coral rehabilitation. We chose a dead reef recovering reef restore using the coral tile. So we got the corals from the nurseries 3 years ago plant tiles and then tiles today reef documented every month how fast it recovers a dead reef and hopefully apply urban areas.

[00:09:31]>> What led us to participate in this uh activity is actually um we have personnel from the BFP who are members of the Davo Golf uh divers. No. So since um Davo Golf divers have this activity uh they have uh invited us to participate here and of course uh our the bureau of fire protection uh is not only um focusing on fire. It is our responsibility also uh as public servants uh to preserve our uh marine ecosystem and um we are very happy actually to participate in the coral planting activity.

[00:10:15]>> Yes. Uh we get them as volunteers because aside from the actual help the actual manpower that we need it's nice to expose them to the activity.

[00:10:28]aware of what a coral is. It's still common misconception that corals are just rocks.

[00:10:48]Gold diversion everyday.

[00:11:11]I think it's all about the people who love the ocean. You >> the values of the group is always giving back to nature. We enjoy nature. We want our children and their children enjoy what we enjoy now. So we try now recover nature through our help a small part of it and then we make time maintain beauty underwater.

[00:11:44]>> The Davo Gulf is vast and yet it's in this small marine park off Capiat Island that something profound is happening.

[00:11:53]Led by unsung heroes of the reef who dared to care and chose to protect the sea they call home.

[00:12:02]Coming up next, we explore the threats faced by our marine life and the conservation efforts the Davo divers are working to restore what's been lost. The journey continues. Regen will be right back.

[00:12:23]You're being sir.

[00:12:24]>> WHAT? 40,000 PESOS. ONE for only, sir.

[00:12:27]>> Price check or eyes check. Go to Eio Executive Optical for expert eye care, state-of-the-art facilities, affordable eyewear.

[00:12:33]>> Order for more.

[00:12:34]>> Eio Executive Optical. Love your eyes.

[00:12:39]>> Once the waters of the Mini Coast teamed with life, turtles gliding to shorelines, fish darting through thriving reefs. But time, neglect, and human activities have left scars.

[00:12:55]>> When I was a kid, I used to go to this island, Copyat, and we'd really see turtles, a lot of turtles. Uh, it's a common site. Actually, it's history is um it's a turtle breeding area. Uh grade school, high school, after college and turtles wondering, two turtles.

[00:13:43]fish.

[00:13:48]This is very personal to me uh because uh my family depends on the this this resort. So through time uh like every year there's significant change and um by significant change uh to the the negative side of it I can see damage waters and it's very worrisome cuz uh every year and if you're if you're exposed to that it would worry you so much.

[00:14:38]destructive fishing practices. Unsustainable fishing practices. Cyanide fishing.

[00:14:53]Fish easier to harvest.

[00:14:58]They also kill the coral coral. And then by killing the coral place for the new fish, baby fish to survive the first stages dynamite fishing, commercial fishing, blast fishing and uh final nets. It's a matter of implementation.

[00:15:42]They're they they are throwing their trust in the in the river in the so that compromise the the life of the ocean.

[00:16:06]So animals underwater is compromised on trust.

[00:16:13]>> Okay. So coral reefs is a structure that's formed through time. So it's a biogeeo geological structure. So it's formed by an organism, the corals and then the reef is formed through biological, chemical and physical processes. So that's why um it will be formed like a structure. Corals are the primary building block of your coral reefs. So they're one of the major contributors in forming the reef.

[00:16:54]So there's a lot of reasons why um coral communities die or a certain ecosystem will die. But most likely it will be a combination of your anthropogenic inputs. So that's your human activities and um natural calamities.

[00:17:14]So for like for example for the reef um increasing increase in sea surface temperature can actually um cause bleaching which can cause your corals to die. So fishing activities can also influence this one. So it it's it's really a it's like different factors that will cause a reef or an ecosystem to to die. But underwater, silence doesn't always mean peace. For the Davo Gulf divers, it can mean risk. Each dive, while rooted in purpose, begins with safety. The ocean isn't always kind. Shifting currents and hidden debris are threats. Before each dive, first follow protocol. Under the DA golf divers, we always prioritize safety diversation members. First isalafety.

[00:18:52]Safety preparation conservation efforts like put effort into what you're doing.

[00:19:20]Somewhere beneath the debris and broken reefs, they found purpose. A glimpse into the world below. The realization that it's worth saving. When I first uh experienced introduction to diving through DGD, I realized curiosity related to environment.

[00:20:04]marine environment. Each time I dive, I always think about the fun that I I'll be experiencing. When you're underwater, all you think about is your breathing, and then you focus on what's in front of you, what's around you, and then you appreciate everything that there is underwater. Today the work continues beyond coral transplanting. The Davo Gulf divers are nurturing coral nurseries, organizing school basedo activities, and establishing more protected areas around the Davo Gulf.

[00:20:38]>> Right now, we're focused on coral rehabs, lots of scuba sureras around the area, and um to help uh DMP thrive.

[00:20:50]Right now we're maintaining the coral nurseries we planted throughout the years and we're trying to just learn more uh for it to be sustainable.

[00:21:01]>> Before me work together humans and thrive together humans and ocean sustainable way of fishing.

[00:21:16]One dive at a time, the Davo Gulf divers are slowly healing what was once broken.

[00:21:22]Each reef they restore, every coral they plant is a quiet act of change. A way of saying the ocean still matters. That there is still time to protect it. For the ocean has long fed millions. It is not just beneath us. It's part of who we are.

[00:21:41]Up next, we uncover what it truly means to care for the ocean and how ordinary people can spark extraordinary change.

[00:21:51]Regen will be right back.

[00:21:58]On your way to success?

[00:22:00]Start with the best. New Era University where we guide every individual to their natural state of excellence.

[00:22:15]Enroll now because New Era University awaits the future we can build together.

[00:22:33]organized >> working with the ocean learn. We worked with the universities. We worked with the colleges around marine sciences.

[00:22:43]So we started learning how complex and how amazing the underwater world is.

[00:22:49]It's a really different world and um working with it I really learned a lot and I learned how to appreciate the ocean and what it does for the world.

[00:23:02]>> Beyond conservation lies a deeper mission to inspire to educate and to mobilize the future generation.

[00:23:12]I go around the schools uh of mabini naga give talk about the corals about fish about the whole ecosystem how crucial on every part of the ecosystem the fisher folks we are also working with them eventually goal is livelihood through ecoourism protect marine park at the same time they lost a part a portion of their fishing grounds, but in return they get uh an income from ecoourism.

[00:23:53]>> For communities who live beside the sea for years, this isn't just about marine life. It's about dinner on the table, a child's future, and memories of a lifetime.

[00:24:06]I think there's a need for us to know that our reefs and our ocean are the ones providing us the basic necessities for us to survive. So if the reef and our ocean will be unhealthy then it will be us who will suffer because like our food our protein especially our fish protein it comes from the sea.

[00:24:34]Of course uh part of our social responsibility is to really is to really protect uh every every lives that uh that includes marine lives. No, I would just like to of course to relate to everyone now. We really need to be aware of these kinds of efforts cuz if I I really think that this will be of great impact to everyone.

[00:25:01]We also involve ourselves no uh to this kind of activities and environment.

[00:25:13]Restoration efforts, conservation efforts.

[00:25:46]services.

[00:25:58]It's a continuous journey.

[00:26:01]We will not stop working with the ocean, working for the ocean. Our big goal is to create a network of marine parks, but we want to encourage other groups to make their own mini MPA. We will teach them. We will share everything that we know and if small marine parks whole do so goal it's to share what we know and hopefully my inspire to make their own uh mini MPAs and eventually we'll create a network of MPAs all around the Davo Gulf and we'll have a healthier Davo Golf. So we aim to to establish a marine laboratory in Kopat Island and also a laboratory of standard marine animals in Da Gulf. So dream hopefully by the different stakeholders we can achieve that dream and of course encourage youth percent in in regards to conservation and preservation environment.

[00:27:15]>> These conservation efforts are more than projects. They are acts of hope and declarations of love for life under the sea. A promise that the ocean and its lifeline is worth saving.

[00:27:30]Whole earth majority is ocean and reason. It's the life support of the earth. Actually, if we kill the ocean, we will kill everyone else.

[00:27:43]appreciate ocean underneath it all ecosystem that's supporting the land uh it produces oxygen as well more forest it cleans the air >> the marine ecosystem is a world that sustains us all it isn't just home to coral reefs it's everyone's life support because to care for the ocean is to care for ourselves. And if the Davo go divers once just ordinary citizens with a cost, can create change beneath the surface, then maybe all of us can too. Even the smallest act of care can ripple outward.

[00:28:30]Even the quietest voice can protect something as vast as the sea. This is not just their story of the Davo Gulf divers, the quiet heroes of the sea.

[00:28:43]It's ours. And maybe, just maybe, if we listen, if we care, we can still turn the tide.

[00:28:52]>> Learn about the ocean.

[00:28:56]Learn about the importance of the ocean.

[00:28:58]Without the ocean, without the coral reefs, humans cannot survive. We are one world and if you destroy the chain affected do the little things that matter. Do the recycling. Do the reusing.

[00:29:20]One less bottle for the ocean.

[00:29:24]One life saved.

[00:29:30]Heat. Heat.

[00:30:29]the