Helping to save the marine sea turtle is theme at Pawikan Festival

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The Pawikan Festival is given life and color by schoolchildren in turtle costumes promoting the conservation of the endangered creatures.

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Sponsors of baby marine turtles release and bid them goodbye as the babies race to the water.

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A baby marine turtle of the Oliver Ridley species is about to be released into the water,.

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For a minimal fee that helps the Pawikan Conservation Center support its needs in caring for turtle eggs, visitors may adopt hatchlings they themselves get to release into the water.

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A hatchling just released and racing to go back to its home in the waters.

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Schoolchildren rehearsing for their entry to the street dance competition.

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Street Dancing during the Pawikan Festival.

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Participant of a street dancing entry paints their face to resemble a turtle.

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A street dancer portraying the sad plight of sea turtles at the hands of poachers and predators.

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Street dancer re-enacts pain and suffering for the killing of marine turtles.

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A participant in the street dance competition re-enacts a dying turtle in the hands of poachers.

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A colorful festival to share awareness of the importance of saving the Pawikan.

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Schoolchildren clad in turtle costumes having fun showing off their dance skills.

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Pretty lasses from Morong, Bataan dance in costume to share awareness of how crucial it is to save marine turtles.

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Street dancing to the theme of Save the Marine Turtles.

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Schoolchildren after their performance in the Pawikan Festival, tired but happy.

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Signage at the Pawikan Conservation Center says it all.

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Philippine Senator Loren Legarda was guest speaker during the festival. The Koro Bangkal Bigkin, an Aeta children's choir from Abucay, Bataan sang for the crowd.

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The serene beach of Barangay Nagbalayong in Morong, Bataan was the venue of the festival and home to nesting marine turtles.

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The beaches of Morong are home to endangered nesting sea turtles. Once poachers themselves, the locals are now conservationists celebrating their work and awareness with a yearly festival highlighted by the release of hatchlings into the sea.

Visitors and locals gathered at the beach of Barangay Nagbalayong in Morong, Bataan on November 30, 2012 for the annual Pawikan Festival. Pawikan is the local term for the marine turtles that are deemed endangered. In 1999 The Pawikan Conservation Center was put up as a community initiative and manned by locals who were once poachers and egg collectors. Today, they are the guardians and nurses of marine turtle eggs until they become hatchlings.

The beaches of Bataan is home to marine turtles laying eggs. It is said that those turtles born at the beach and survive to adulthood some 25-50 years later come back to the beach and lay their own eggs to start another cycle of life.

Peak nesting is in November and December. It is also around this time that the Pawikan Festival is held. Street dancing competition among schoolchildren provide the festive mood with pretty lasses from Bataan wearing costumes resembling the pawikan. They dance to the message of how crucial it is to protect these gentle creatures of the sea. Highlighting the festival is the release of hatchlings from the Pawikan Conservation Center to the West Philippine Sea. A visitor may sponsor a hatchling for a few pesos that is used to maintain the center, gets to hold and bid it goodbye as the baby turtle starts its survival training of crawling a few meters back to its home in the waters.

In a small town that cares for wildlife, there is a big battle cry.

Help Save the Pawikan.