For the period 1999 - 2002, WWF assisted the Sibuyan Mangyan Tagabukid in securing their Ancestral Domain Title and in preparing their Ancestral Domain Plan. In March 2005, WWF was able to secure modest funding support from the Local Government Unit of San Fernando to finance watershed management services under a scheme titled "Securing Payments for Watershed Services" to address threats in two adjacent watersheds - Panagcalan and Cantingas. These watersheds provide drinking water to the town and recreational services respectively. Cantingas was voted the "Cleanest River" in the Philippines for successive years conferring prestige to the municipality and to the island of Sibuyan. However, several swidden farms are bordering important tributaries which may impact the waterways. Other threats include illegal logging, wildlife harvesting and pollution from crude latrines. Poverty, high population growth and lack of access to basic services such as drinking water, education and shelter characterize conditions of IPs in these watersheds.

     The Sibuyan Mangyan Tagabukid indigenous people number about 335 households (or 1,500 individuals) residing in 7905ha of two non-contiguous areas comprising their ancestral domain.

     The Mt. Guiting-Guiting Natural Park covers around 12,000ha of primary and secondary growth forest, 30% of which are intact forests overlaping with the Sibuyan Mangyan Tagabukid’s ancesral domain. A payments scheme for watershed services was conceived to close the loop between buyers and sellers of watershed services. The buyers are the LGUs, conservation NGOs, water users while the sellers are the upland residents, mostly IPs. A sinking fund called the "Cantingas Water Fund" amounting to PhP 700,000 was set up for 2005 from counterpart contributions from the local government and WWF to finance enforcement and reforestation activities.

     An orientation was held in lowland Barangays Taclobo and Panagcalan to seek the cooperation of local leaders since most loggers and poachers pass through their areas. Since September, a 10-person patrol team was organized and conducted daily patrols in the two watersheds that encompassed an area of about 56 sq-km. The members of the patrol team, rotated among members of the IP community, receive a daily allowance of PhP 100 a day. Payments are made in-kind, e.g. groceries, rice, etc - and are collected by the wives. Women-led households also participate in the patrols. The campaign resulted in six apprehensions and confiscations of illegally sourced timber. Some incidents of violent skirmishes were reported and a downward trend in violations for 3 months has been detected. Swidden farms previously identified as major threat sources are now subject to negotiations with land owners to limit their expansion and to re-vegetate buffer zones into the waterways.

     Since the payments are bounded by the watershed, not all IPs are benefiting from this scheme. However, the adjacent municipality of Cajidiocan is interested in managing their watersheds in cooperation with some IPs. The town suffers from water quality issues during summer and has identified a sub-catchment for their future water needs. However, several IPs live upstream from the waterways posing the same set of problems as in San Fernando. Since Sibuyan island has been subjected to intense rains in the recent past, danger posed by land slides and debris from upland areas are real concerns. Also, the concern for water availability and quality has convinced lowland users on the need to take care of their watersheds. A payments system contingent on performance outputs are viable ways to address these issues. Support in terms of studies on forest hydrology, land use impacts, institutional mechanisms for transfers and willingness-to-pay on the part of water users are needed. Upland issues such as education, drinking water, shelter and livelihoods need to be addressed as well but may need to be embedded as part of payments for services mechanism.