Yesterday, I covered the State Department's International Women of Coverage Awards, and I was fascinated by some of the honorees' backgrounds, but the one who really stood out to me was Angelique Songco, aka "Mama Ranger," of the Philippines. Here's what the State Department had to say about her accomplishments:
Angelique Songco, better known as “Mama Ranger,” leads a small team of rangers protecting the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park from illegal fishing and poaching. The reef ecosystem supports over 360 species of coral and almost 700 species of fish and is a significant source of economic benefit to the Philippines through tourism, conservation, and the marine resources it supports. Ms. Songco fuses maritime law enforcement with a passion for rehabilitation. Her leadership, for over two decades, has resulted in a dramatic decrease in trespassers per month in the protected area. As the reef flourishes, Ms. Songco and her rangers have become an example of what is possible when a strategic leader successfully merges conservation and anti-corruption efforts.
She also got a shoutout from the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines.
Angelique Songco, Mama Ranger of the Tubbataha Reefs, is an International Woman of Courage. She leads a team of rangers who protect one of the Philippines’ largest marine protected areas. Congratulations! 🎉 #IWOC2025 pic.twitter.com/ps4J3q439A
— U.S. Embassy in the Philippines (@USEmbassyPH) April 2, 2025
I'm going to let my inner hippie out a little bit here, but the ocean and marine conservation are topics that are near and dear to my heart, so I wanted to learn more about Songco. As it turns out, she grew up spending her time outdoors and her passion for the ocean led to her becoming a certified scuba diver in 1981. Three months later, she went diving at the Tubbataha coral reefs — before the area became the national park that she protects now — and this is what she had to say in an interview with X-Ray magazine: "...I really could not believe what I saw there! I was astonished at the amount of marine life—there seemed to be huge clouds and waterfalls of fish everywhere and the water was so clear it was almost as if they were somehow floating in mid-air!"
By 1985, she was working as a divemaster at Tubbataha, and she often saw people fishing via illegal methods there, such as using cyanide to catch fish in larger numbers. This was causing so much damage to the area and depleting the wildlife that she and other divers and conservationists encouraged the government to make it a national park. In 1988, President Corazon Aquino signed a proclamation that did just that, making it the first marine national park in the country. In 1993, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared it a World Heritage Site. In 2001, Songco applied to become the first park manager and got the job. She's been there ever since, protecting this important part of the planet.
Tubbataha means "long reef exposed at low tide" in Samal. The protected area that encompasses Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park is isolated in the midst of the Sulu Sea and takes up just under 240,000 acres. The two atolls located there are uninhabited, aside from a ranger station, where about a dozen rangers live for two months at a time The armed rangers that Songco oversees guard the park 24/7, protecting it from illegal poaching, fishing, and other unsavory activity. However, it is a "mecca for scuba divers and model for coral reef conservation."
It's also part of the Coral Triangle, which is home to 76% of the world’s coral species, making it the area with the "highest coral diversity in the world." It's also home to more marine species in general than any place on earth and often called the "Nursery of the Sea" or the "Amazon of the Seas." It's even an incredibly important part of the world economy. It's home to a multi-billion-dollar tuna industry and attracts billions of dollars of nature-based tourism each year, which impacts millions of people around the world. A lot of this is thanks to Songco and her dedication to rehabilitating and enforcing the laws meant to protect the area.
One thing that really interested me about Songco's story and Tubbataha is that it is considered one of the greatest places for scuba diving in the world. On a personal note, as someone who loves to swim in and is fascinated by the ocean, scuba diving is not something I've ever done, unfortunately. I had plans to learn once — I was going to accompany a friend who is an expert diver and learn at this place in Mexico — but my mom got really sick just before it happened, and as I've written here before, I ended up being her sole caretaker until she died. Doing anything like that was out of the question for years.
In 2021, I almost took a lesson at a resort in Turks and Caicos, but I chickened out because I'd gotten so out of shape at the time. Over the last couple of years, I've spent countless hours swimming and snorkeling in the Caribbean Sea, mainly off the east coast of Costa Rica — my little happy spot — but there hasn't been any diving. Though last summer, I challenged myself to swim several miles across the sea (while I had COVID, mind you), and the idea did creep into the back of my mind while I was on that little journey.
When I watched some videos of the reefs at Tubbataha last night, I think I may have finally found the inspiration again. While we don't talk as much as we used to, sadly, I was also inspired to reach out to that old friend and ask if he'd ever gone diving there, as he's been all over the world. Everywhere but there, apparently.
Maybe I'll try again one day. Even if not to dive, I'd love to visit this place and meet the woman who was honored by the State Department for saving and protecting it. She seemed fun from what I saw of her, and I'm sure she's got some amazing stories. In the meantime, I'll just have to see it through the eyes of others who have been there. If you're interested, here's a really cool video that follows a group of divers who went there and highlights both the marine life and the rangers who protect it.
Do we have any divers out there in the PJM audience? Where's the coolest place you've ever been? Have you been to Tubbataha? And do you have any advice or encouragement for someone like your dear old writer here, who might want to give it a shot? Let me know in the comments.
