The Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) techniques often employed to fast-track the assessments of agricultural and forest resource systems were applied to the coastal resource planning of Malampaya Sound in Palawan Island, western Philippines. The RRA was classified as exploratory: the aim was to describe the problems and opportunities in the area through the active participation of the local communities. The exercise was jointly undertaken by six researchers and representative household members from seven villages. Qualitative diagrams were constructed depicting the human interactions with the coastal resources in terms of four patterns: space, time, product flow and decision making. The four key coastal issues that emerged in the problem analysis chart were: low fishery production, the low prices of fisheries produce, low agricultural production and poor health conditions. The final outputs were proposed projects or action strategies to be used as mitigating measures for the coastal problems identified. The RRA techniques were found to be useful as participatory tools for problem identification and initial project development. The documentary outputs have served as guides for the rapid survey of other coastal sites in Palawan.