Other well-know and familiar fishes that are no longer caught in our lagoons and inland waters are the Kelat and Uluu. The highly prized Kelat (Mullet) has also disappeared from the fish markets. Many connoisseurs of sea food in the restaurants say this delegacy has been replaced by imported bangus fish from abroad. Another awesome sight, which indicated the presence of huge schools of tuna and other pelagic fishes, has also disappeared from the horizons in our waters. They are the huge number of black sea birds (Bedaoch) which darkened the horizon whenever big schools of tuna chase small bait fishes in their feeding frenzies close to our shores. These sights, too, are no longer seen in or outside our reefs.
Whatever happened to the…Credit unions in Palau? Credit unions were once so common that one could find them in most major villages in Palau. Here on Koror, Governmental activities—Public Works, Health Services, administration, etc—had their own credit unions. This was not surprising since the Government itself introduced the program to Palauans. This community-based self-help program was spearheaded by Salvatore Ongrung, who worked under the directions of experts sent to Palau by the TT Headquarters on Saipan. The program was actively promoted by other high Government officials, many of them traveled throughout Palau explaining to the villagers the advantages of the program.The people found it easier to organize their own credit unions since the program was similar in nature to “Muzings”, which they were already familiar with. In the sixties and the seventies, the unions actually played some very important roles in the village economies. Many people depended on them for their customary obligations, house repair financing, and other financial expenditures. But for some as yet unknown reasons, the popularity of the program began to wane and, by the nineties, many of the organizations had simply ceased to exist.Knowledgeable people say the increase in the number of commercial banks in Palau, with their stiff competitions for the available cash in the local economy, drove the credit unions to extinction. Whatever the causes for their demises might be, it is, nevertheless, still very sad that a public program that once brought people together in a spirit of cooperation had gone out of action without a whimper of protest from the Government that initiated it in the first place. Are there still credit union organizations operating out there today? If there are, are they protected by law? If not, could the OEK look into them to see if these organizations can be afforded some legal protection?
