By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
The exchange of letters between Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) Director for Research and Conservation Jayson Ibañez and myself in this space (Philippine Daily Inquirer opinion page) in 2016 demonstrated that the foundation’s program of releasing eagles into what it calls wilds has no leg to stand on. Ibañez failed to answer my fourth letter (“If Noah’s Ark were under PEF’s leadership,” June 24, 2016) where I wrote that had the PEF been in charge of Noah’s Ark, the animals in the vessel would have been lost because they would have released the animals without first making sure that the environment was safe for them. If you want to see how Ibañez vainly tried to defend the indefensible, google the following: “Is PEF helping save PH eagles?”; “In captivity, eagle’s potential killed”; “Data show ‘unfavorable score’ for PEF ‘releases’”; “PEF run by people with heads in clouds”; “Letter-writer belaboring the point on eagle releases”; and “If Noah’s Ark were under PEF’s leadership”.
The information in the article “PH eagle rescued from chicken trap in Eastern Samar forest” (July 10, 2019) that the foundation intends to release the eagle caught in a chicken trap in a forest in barangay Carayacay, Maslog, Eastern Samar on June 17, 2019 to its natural habitat proves that the PEF is beyond the reach of reason thus, I now address this letter to all Filipinos who care for the national bird and kindred souls the world over. Immediately, we must stop the PEF from releasing Maslog E. S, the eagle found in Eastern Samar, and ultimately to have the PEF and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) scrap the discredited program of releasing eagles to the open.
First, it has been established a long time ago that the Philippines is a very dangerous place for wildlife and nothing has changed in that respect. The inclusion of more than 40 species in the country in the critically endangered list proves that. The very existence of the PEF itself is a clear evidence because why would we need a special program to protect and conserve the Philippine Eagle if Filipinos did not pose danger to their existence? The article “Ecology and conservation of Philippine Eagles” (online) which Ibañez cowrote in 2006, reveals that hunting is “a major and deadly threat to the species” and went on to inform that all the 11 eagles recovered by PEF since 1999 were victims of human predators.
Second, as of June 2016, of the 15 eagles released by the PEF until then, one was known to be still alive in the wilds, four were returned to the center due to injuries while the rest were either confirmed or presumed dead. After recklessly and mindlessly losing 10 precious eagles which could have had a significant impact on the preservation of the Philippine Eagle on account of a program it cannot defend in a public forum, the PEF wants to gamble with the life of yet another eagle! If that’s not insanity, I do not know what is.
Just to prove the PEF is bereft of common sense, it declared the Maslog, Eastern Samar forest safe for Maslog E. S., the eagle found there on June 17, when the time to release it comes — and it was in that town where the bird was trapped! That also goes for “Agawid,” the Philippine Eagle recovered in the Aurora Memorial National Park (AMNP) in Aurora on June 1, 2016 and released by the DENR in the AMNP on October 4, 2017. How could the DENR have assessed the AMNP safe for the eagle when the bird was caught there through a monkey snare?
Third, there is now a safe and sane way of conserving and at the same time insuring against any natural calamity that might wipe out the captive eagle population in the Philippine Eagle Center (PEC) in Malagos, Davao City: loaning eagles to foreign conservation institutions. The first such arrangement – the Philippine Eagle Loan Agreement with Wildlife Reserves Singapore – had already brought a male and female pair of Philippine Eagles to Jurong Bird Park in Singapore last month. Recently, DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu also informed that a similar arrangement with an American wildlife conservation entity is being explored. If with this sound alternative now available the PEF and the DENR still insists on releasing Philippines Eagles, somebody better have the heads of these people examined. It could be that prolonged exposure to birds makes people bird-brained.
We must demand that the PEF and DENR immediately stop their insane and damaging eagle release program until such time there are forests in the country declared safe for the birds by objective, competent and responsible authorities. As much as possible, the PEF and the DENR should not be involved in the evaluation. We must also ask the corporate sponsors of the eagles in the care of the PEF to henceforth make it a condition that the bird should never be released from captivity anywhere in the Philippines until such time a proven safe habitat becomes available – if ever.
Let’s save the Philippine Eagle from insane local conservationists.
