Destinations

In the midst of the giant groupers

First mastered by the Taiwanese in the 1970s, full-cycle or closed loop mariculture entails breeding and rearing fish in complete captivity and is meant to eliminate the need to draw from wild stocks. Hardier but lower-value species such as green grouper and tiger grouper have been successfully bred and reared in captivity since the year 2000. Few have met success with finicky leopard coral trout, but the Palawan Aquaculture Corporation claims to have successfully bred them – a vital first step for the road to full-cycle mariculture.

Published

11 years ago

May 14, 2015

Contributing Writer

By Gregg Yan, WWF

A typical grow-out facility in Southern Palawan. Operators must feed and protect the fish, which are held in submerged cages beneath and around the central hut for around 10 months. There is no electricity. Food and water are supplied exclusively by boat (Gregg Yan/WWF)

“Don’t fall into that fish pen,” warns Daryl Dandal, an offshore cage warden. “It has two giant groupers. Both are larger than you.”

I nod and tiptoe through a network of planks above the glittering waters of Taytay in Palawan, Philippines. Here lie about 2,000 fish cages, where various species of grouper are grown to feed a ballooning export trade. For the Philippines, this is the center of the LRFFT: the live reef food fish trade.

What began in the 1980s as an experiment in Samar now employs over 100,000 people in Palawan alone. Palawan’s annual grouper exports exceed P1.7 billion – but the fish are slowly disappearing.

LEOPARD CORAL TROUT

Chinese restaurants usually have a bubbling tank of grouper. Locally called lapu-lapu, señorita or suno, the lethargic predators are among Asia’s most sought-after reef fish, prized for taste and texture. Across the Philippines, millions of juveniles are caught before they reproduce, raising serious concerns about the LRFFT’s sustainability.

Although there are 161 grouper species, the apple of traders’ eyes is the leopard coral trout, an orange fish that fetches up to P7,200 per kilogram in Hong Kong and P13,500 per kilogram in China.

“When the trade started in the 1980s, most wild-caught groupers were market-sized, each around a foot long,” recounts Dr. Geoffrey Muldoon, WWF’s LRFFT strategy leader. “After 30 years, most of the large ones have been fished out. Today just one in five wild-caught groupers is market-sized. Since there aren’t enough adults to go around, the trade turned to grouper ranching, a system where juveniles are caught and grown in guarded offshore cages.”

Within submerged cages and pens, groupers must endure temperature fluctuations, overcrowding and diseases. Many die in the process. Those that survive around 10 months in captivity are sold as market-sized fish – each around a foot long and weighing from 500 to 700 grams. At this stage in the supply chain, a single suno, as the leopard coral trout is locally known, retails for about P2,500.

It’s a lucrative livelihood. Fishers earn up to 50 times more selling a kilogram of suno than other types of fish. Federico and Nida Ellut from northern Palawan sent their three children to school from their income as grouper collectors.

“From a simple straw hut, we now have a two-bedroom concrete home. We’re saving to buy our third boat,” says Nida.

Money talks – but extraction has hidden costs.

STOCKS DEPLETED?

The current system of LRFFT collection is untenable: WWF surveys have shown that over half the groupers taken from Palawan’s reefs are juveniles, a clear sign of dangerous stock depletion.

“Overharvesting has been a huge problem. Fishers were catching five times more than what could be sustained. Spawning aggregations were targeted, depleting brood-stock. Fortunately local governments and fishing communities have embraced conservation efforts,” says WWF-Philippines project manager Mavic Matillano.

WWF is now leading efforts to facilitate the recovery of suno stocks by establishing marine protected areas, plus enhanced enforcement, licensing and education. Alternative solutions may also exist.

“Given the fishery’s dependence on wild juveniles, a way forward is through full-cycle mariculture, potentially freeing suppliers from having to catch wild fish,” explains Muldoon.

Farmed suno might soon be a commercial reality, but the clock is ticking.

“Just a few years ago, the panther grouper was at the top of the LRFFT heap,” says Matillano. “It was caught and exported by the millions, but stocks crashed and the government imposed a total ban on the panther grouper. The suno was next in line, becoming LRFFT’s top-traded fish.”

* * *

As I jump and dive around the floating leopard farms of Taytay, I notice how leopard coral trout comprise just half the fish in the cages. Whereas a few years ago cages would brim with bright red suno, each fish cage now hosts an eclectic blend of strawberry, saddle, harlequin and other types of grouper – now pressed into the trade to take the declining suno’s place.

I ponder how long before the suno population crashes. If and when it does, the market will likely move on to other fish, continuing the pattern of over-consumption. It’s clear that full-cycle mariculture of suno and other grouper species is the LRFFT’s best way forward.

Floating offshore cages house dozens of juvenile groupers in the municipality of Taytay in Northern Palawan (Jun Lao)

Cherished in China for their ‘lucky’ red color, leopard coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus) await their fate inside a floating cage in Palawan. Some die of stress and disease – but enough survive to make the trade lucrative. Gregg Yan/WWF)

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Contributing Writer

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Destinations

Visiting San Pablo City’s Pho Viet Nam

When we came across Facebook posts on Pho Viet Nam in San Pablo City in Laguna, we expected to encounter what was experienced in Vietnam (i.e. good food over so-so venue). We expected too much…

Published

3 weeks ago

September 17, 2026

M.D. dela Cruz Tan, MDC

If you’ve been to Vietnam, you’d know that some of the best places to eat at are in those neighborhood eateries; their versions of karinderya, in a manner of speaking, where locals prep good lutong-bahay Vietnamese offerings sans the classy places of expensive restos. Here, the focus is always the food, never the blings.

So when we came across Facebook posts on Pho Viet Nam, located somewhere in San Pablo City in the Province of Laguna, we sort of expected to encounter what was experienced in Vietnam.

@outragemag Looking for #Vietnam food while in #SanPabloCity in #Laguna? We #LGBT checked #PhoVietNam ♬ original sound – Outrage Magazine

Una, this is not the most accessible place even for those with vehicles from Metro Manila. This is because you still have to travel for over an hour (if you’re lucky traffic-wise), and spend on your gas and the toll and so on.

Note that when you’re also along Apolinario Mabini Street, the resto isn’t apparent. It is located at the back of another resto (Joy), so it is very easy to miss. There is, BTW, a small entry at the side of the resto, which leads to an outdoor parking space.

Ikalawa, the actual resto is cheap-looking – e.g. plastic décor, running lights here and there, and so on. Very karinderya; cheap karinderya, for that matter.

Ikatlo, the servers were okay naman; they knew what was on the menu, and – after making quick recommendations – kept you undisturbed to enjoy what you ordered. The orders took some time to be prepped, however; I was even able to order bad-tasting fries from the other resto due to the waiting time.

Ika-apat, how was the food?

Both the ₱245 Beef Noodle Soup and the ₱245 Seafood Noodle Soup weren’t bad naman; but they weren’t good either. You get enough properly-cooked meats, the noodles are sufficient, and so on. Taste-wise, though, they were bland, and no amount of the prepared condiments helped in changing the flavor.

The ₱190 Rice Paper Roll sufficed even if, by and large, it was tasteless. The saving grace: the satay dip since it was rich and nutty and all that.

The ₱160 Meatloaf and Egg Sandwich (the banh mi kep thit va trung) had enough meat naman… and yet was also bland.

Considering the asking prices of this place, you sort of expect a lot, too. Add to that the popularity of the place – e.g. look at all those who dine there, kinukuyog. Alas, the realities when already there are harsher.

Heading to San Pablo to check this place led us to the nearby Dagatan Blvd. surrounding Sampaloc Lake, a must-check place in these parts. So we sort of do not regret heading to San Pablo.

But buod: No, Pho Viet Nam is not worth the dayo; not worth for you to intentionally seek this place out. The food wasn’t bad. But it’s not great, or even good either. It just suffices. And so, particularly for non-locals, the additional expenses for the gas, toll, et cetera make going there not worth it… sorry.

But off we go for more LGBTQIA+ rampa…

Pho Viet Nam is located at 130 Apolinario Mabini Street, San Pablo City, 4000 Laguna.

Destinations

Heading to Pila, Laguna? Check out La Cosina Antonio

We found our #LGBT selves in #Pila, #Laguna, where we ended up checking La Cosina Antonio.

Published

1 month ago

September 4, 2026

M.D. dela Cruz Tan, MDC

While traveling from Batangas City on the way to Paete, Laguna after an Intersex 101 training workshop, intersex activist Jeff Cagandahan worried where he’d feed us. And then, after a quick discussion with his wife, he suggested La Cosina Antonio, which is apparently a must-check resto in the Municipality of Pila in the province of Laguna.

So we went there, and… how was it for us?

@outragemag #LGBT wandering in #Pila, #Laguna? You may as well try #LaCosinaAntonio ♬ original sound – Outrage Magazine

Una, this is really only convenient to access by locals, or those with private vehicles. Pila, if you must know, is one of the oldest settlements in the Philippines. It is, nonetheless, still largely provincial. And so this place is dadayuhin; you need to intentionally go there as it’s not on the way to major destinations.

Ikalawa, the actual venue is BIG. This one’s an old house converted into a resto with different parts – e.g. for dining, for drinking complete with a performance space for a band, venue spaces, and so on. La Cosina Antonio is, thankfully, well-kept, so that it’s clean, has updated furniture, and so on.

Ikatlo, the staff was okay naman when we were there, able to discuss what’s on the menu, make recommendations… and then prepare the orders and deliver them fast. Very home-y approach, actually, treating guests as regulars.

Ika-apat, how was the food?

The ₱375 Dinakdakan was actually good, the pork belly crispy, the chopped onions and green chilies fresh, and the calamansi-mayo dressing not overpowering.

The ₱390 Sinigang na Hipon was… so-so, not bad though not good either. Pampainit-tiyan. Though, this has to be said, at least di tinipid in the number of shrimps served.

The ₱560 Garlic Pepper Whole Chicken was good; the meat stayed juicy even if the skin was crunchy.

The ₱770 Crispy Pata was also good; crunchy skin and, yes, malamang pata. There are times when you get Crispy Pata that’s basically just skin and bone, no meat at all. Here, we got meat… thankfully.

This place is popular, true (check their Facebook page, LOL). I can be dismissive and say that because, if in Pila, it’s not like you have lots of choices. But truth be told, it’s also because La Cosina Antonio actually has not-bad stuffs to offer… including the okay venue, okay service, and okay food. So check out if you can… or just join us as we look for more LGBTQIA+ lafangan venues…

La Cosina Antonio is located along JP Rizal St., Barangay Sta. Clara Norte, Pila, Laguna.

Destinations

Pasalubong shopping in Davao via Aldevinco

#Pasalubong hunting in #Davao? Consider the new, pinasosyal #Aldevinco that may not have the grimy character of the old location but still is worth #LGBT visiting.

Published

1 month ago

August 31, 2026

M.D. dela Cruz Tan, MDC

Davao-bound tourists know – or should know – of Aldevinco Shopping Center, the city’s one-stop-hub for everything Mindanao-related. You need malong or patadyong as pasalubong? You need a kulintang not just as a musical instrument, but as décor? You need batik, or T’boli ethnic apparel? You can find them all… and even more, in Aldevinco.

But here’s the thing, particularly for those who do not know yet: the old Aldevinco, which was located along C.M. Recto Street and Roxas Avenue in Davao City, is no more.

Now… enter the new Aldevinco, this time located at Poblacion Market Central on C. Bangoy Street (former Madrazo Fruit Stand)… which isn’t that far from the old place, actually.

We checked, and here are some things worth noting.

@outragemag #Pasalubong hunting in #Davao? Consider the new, pinasosyal #Aldevinco that may not have the grimy character of the old location but still is worth #LGBT ♬ original sound – Outrage Magazine

Una, this place looks and feels new. The old Aldevinco had a palengke feel, but this one has a mall feel. So you have a high-ceilinged venue with better-arranged stores that are air-conditioned, and so on. Pina-sosyal, in a manner of speaking.

Ikalawa, when there, the rules remain the same: haggle. The prices first quoted to you are not the actual prices the goods go for… unless you’re too moneyed and you don’t want to ask for discounts, though in that case, you shouldn’t even be in Aldevinco at all. The more you buy (i.e. bulk buying), the lower the prices, obviously. But always haggle… even if only for the fun of doing it.

Ikatlo, if you have time to spare, don’t auto-buy from the first store you check. Tour the area and compare prices. Often, the goods sold in one store will also be offered in a different store. So move around before making a final decision.

And ika-apat, Aldevinco may be popular as the go-to place for pasalubong, but in truth this isn’t the only one. Halimbawa, right across the old Aldevinco is a series of shops, some of them from the old Aldevinco. Because, at times, Aldevinco can feel like a tourist trap, and understandably, not everyone likes going into one. So consider your other options.

All the same, when in Davao, this is a place worth checking… if not for the shopping, then the food… or at least to check what happened to the tenants of the 60-year-old Aldevinco that was closed in December 2021, and is now being redeveloped into who-knows-what.

All part of rediscovery as we continue the LGBTQIA+ rampa wherever and everywhere…

Open from 9AM to 7PM (with the Kūkūñ Food Hall open from 10AM to 9 PM), Aldevinco Shopping Center is located at Poblacion Market Central, C. Bangoy Street, Davao City.