THE UNIVERSITY’S Siquijor-based ecotourism project will seek British funding
after losing financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), one of the entities hit by the Trump administration’s government streamlining efforts.
Prof. Moises Norman Garcia, a researcher at the UST Research Center for Social Sciences and Education (RCSSED), said his team is concluding all operations under the USAID-funded research following a termination notice issued last Feb. 26.
“Ito na ‘yung closing, parang sa tindahan, closing out sale. Parang gano’n, termination ng local partners,” Garcia, also the head of the ecotourism project, told The Flame.
(This is the closing, like a store’s closing out sale, like that which includes the termination of local partners.)
“Two-thirds na tapos na. ‘Yung one-third na lang [ang] hindi pa natuloy…Maaari ‘yung mga hindi natapos, siguro, maghanap pa kami ng magfa-fund.”
(“Two-thirds is done. Only one-third has not yet been completed… Perhaps for the unfinished parts, we might look for funding.”
He added that the project team is looking to pursue its research agenda under the Global Center on Biodiversity and Climate (GCBC), a UK Official Development Assistance program on biodiversity management.
“‘Yung ibang hindi natapos doon [under USAID], doon i-convey.”
(Others which are not yet done (under USAID), we will convey it there.)
The notice was relayed by the Gerry Roxas Foundation (GRF) to all grantees under its Investing in Sustainability and Partnerships for Inclusive Growth and Regenerative Ecosystems (INSPIRE) project, a five-year project aimed at improving natural resource resilience and security.
Garcia is one of the project heads of the USAID-funded research, “Siquijor Island Conservation and Restoration: Toward a Regenerative Ecotourism Destination,” which looks into the sustainability and regeneration of the area in Visayas. It is under the UST Research and Endowment Foundation Inc. and was granted P16.5 million by USAID and the GRF in 2023.
“Unfortunately, it has been determined that our award is no longer aligned with Agency priorities and that continuing it is not in their national interest,” the GRF said in an email sent to grantees under INSPIRE.
“As per their directive, we must cease all activities, terminate all subawards and contracts, and avoid incurring any additional obligations beyond unavoidable costs associated with this termination.”
In a separate email sent to affected partners on Feb. 28, the GRF INSPIRE team detailed a list of actions to guide grantees in initiating their close-out process.
The recommended actions included notifying staff and partners on the termination of employment contracts; the settlement of outstanding accounts and the submission of expenditure reports for INSPIRE’s review; and the update of commodity inventory for INSPIRE’s approval of a commodity disposal plan.
Grantees were also told to reconcile cash balances, expected expenditures for the close-out period, and estimate unused funds to transfer back to INSPIRE.
Last Feb. 11, the USAID told grantees through the GRF that three scenarios may result from the 90-day pause imposed by the Trump administration on all USAID-funded projects: the resumption of of the projects along with a deadline extension; the continuation of projects but with revised objectives to meet the agency’s realigned goals and initiatives; and the termination of the projects.
The University’s USAID-funded projects were previously told to observe prudence and to limit all operations to write-ups and in-office tasks after the agency issued a stop-work order that suspended the implementation activities of its grantees since Jan. 24.
The directive stemmed from a US government order to pause all foreign assistance, including those channeled through USAID, for 90 days pending a review for efficiency and alignment with existing policies.
According to US officials, some projects are not in line with American interests and values — a move that critics fear would lead to severe humanitarian crises worldwide.
Barely a month after the directive, the Trump administration announced that it would eliminate more than 90% of USAID’s contracts and $60 billion in overall US assistance in various countries.
According to Assoc. Prof. Alain Jomari Santos, the activity lead for alternative and sustainable livelihood, the termination has prompted the team to eliminate activities and training already lined up for the project.
“Definitely we are on the 60% or 65% na completion and transformation…So there are a series of training activities that are already lined up. I think more than half has been rolled out. And nevertheless the other has been terminated based on the pronouncement by President Donald Trump,” he said.
Santos said that the team is preparing its application for the GCBC and is set to submit a proposal by the agency’s deadline on March 15.
“We have plans to apply for another aid…And we are also planning to continue our project,” he said.
“I think we cannot mention USAID at this point but, definitely, the study will persist to exist.”
Siquijor’s lost opportunity
Garcia said the halt would forego an opportunity to improve the province’s sustainable tourism and climate change mitigation, which may contribute to the island’s degradation.
“If we ignore sustainable tourism, it could lead to the degradation of the island. It happened in Boracay. But in the case of Boracay, it was not neglected,” he said.
According to Santos, the project will stop on April 1 due to the termination notice and will resume once another funding source is found.
Santos said the project opened opportunities for different sectors like the local government, non-government organization and the education sector, to collaborate towards sustainable development.
“So in any progress, there’s now the triangulation of the different sectors that will come from
the LGU, that will come from the NGO, from us and also from the education sector. So nevertheless I think they have appreciated that and I hope they will start to capitalize on that particular framework,” he said.
“In fact, we have our research that has been submitted to Scopus, aligned with what we have been doing sa training activity that will support alternative and sustainable livelihood. It has been accepted and it will be published so that everyone now can read and learn from that.” F
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