Sea ranching of sandfish (Holothuria scabra) was established to help rebuild depleted stocks and increase the harvest for premium-size grade sea cucumbers through restocking of cultured juveniles and harvest size regulation. Community-based sandfish culture production cluster is being piloted in three adjacent villages in Santiago Island to scale-up the economic and ecological benefits of sea ranching. In each village, there is an ocean nursery area and a 1-ha no-take zone for grow-out. Each area is managed by members of the local people’s organizations (PO). Key activities to facilitate the establishment include creating a partnership agreement, culture orientation, site assessment, budget allocation, and construction of a rearing system were undertaken prior to start the culture production in each site. A non-government organization and the Local Government Unit (LGU) provided financial support to each PO to set-up the production area and enforcement of the managed areas respectively. Researchers provided training on ocean nursery and grow-out culture of sandfish, including growth and survival monitoring. Each PO was also given 6,000 post-settled juveniles from the hatchery to rear. Juveniles (>3 g) produced from respective floating hapas were released and reared in a 100 m2 circular pen positioned inside a 1-hectare culture production site. An average survival rate of 26.4% across site was attained after the floating hapa phase. During the initial 8-month rearing period in pens, Pilar had the highest number of juveniles released in pens (2,756) followed by Dewey (1,200) and Victory (791). The average percent survival in Pilar was 1.97%, Dewey with 4.60% and Victory with 6.70%. The survival rate in each site varied on the stocking density. Meanwhile, the highest growth rate was also noted in Barangay Pilar (0.94 ± 0.23 g day-1) followed by Dewey (0.74 ± 0.17 g day-1) and Victory (0.50 ± 0.25 g day-1). Among the major challenges during the establishment of community-based cluster production include local environmental conditions such as isopod infestations, predation, damage in the culture set-ups, and harsh weather conditions primarily affecting growth and survival. Social challenges included delays in stocking of sandfish due to fund availability in purchasing materials for the culture set-ups and maintenance, conflicts among members due to the lack of coordination and participation in agreed upon activities, and poor leadership. Essential in addressing these concerns and promote cooperation were regular group meetings and activities such as monitoring and guarding their respective culture production area. Joint meetings of the different POs and periodic assessment of progress and plans for coordination in relation to enforcement of permits and size limits to manage the wild stocks in the broader sea cucumber reserve encompassing the sandfish culture production areas.