To protect the remaining coral reefs in the Bantayan Island in Cebu, environmental law group Batas Kalikasan and local manufacturer Cemex will embark on replacing damaged reefs with 300 artificial reef balls in the Visayan Sea.

Cemex public affairs director Darwin Mariano said the program was conceptualized in August this year after learning that whale sharks, locally known as butanding, have been sighted in the Visayan Sea, particularly near the Bantayan Island.

The latest initiative of Cemex is in a way associated to an earlier three-year biodiversity conservation program of the company, particularly whale shark protection under the “Adopt-a-Species” project in Donsol, Sorsogon.In 2007, Cemex has partnered with the Department of Tourism and Bantay Kalikasan for the preservation of whale sharks in Donsol. “We have already completed the circle of research, livelihood, and education in Donsol under the three-year whale shark conservation program.