Text and photography by Jojie Alcantara

This is one of the tourist attractions in Zamboanga del Sur, a natural habitat called Pod-ok Mangrove Boardwalk in the municipality of Tabina, which cradles century-old mangroves lining the coastal area. In the 70s, an earthquake and tsunami devastated this municipality, but what protected and saved the townsfolk from total damage were the mangroves deeply rooted in the soil.