By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
Based on media accounts, the investigation on the shooting to death of Philippine Eagle “Pamana” on August 16, 2015 in the Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary in Davao Oriental where it was released by the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) two months earlier conducted by the Senate on September 1, 2015 was sidetracked. While the case of the shooting to death of “Minalwang,” another eagle freed by the PEF, in October 2013 was raised during the hearing, the senators did not address the issue of the soundness of releasing eagles into the wilds amidst the obvious dangers lurking there as evidenced in the two cases.
In fairness to the senators, they may have been acting on inadequate information. It was only much later that the PEF would inform that out of the 15 eagles it dispersed, only one is known to still be alive in the wild with four eagles brought back to the center due to injuries while the rest were confirmed or presumed dead (“Sanctuary offers hope for endangered Philippine eagle,” ABS-CBN, June 15, 2016). The article “The Sad Facts Surrounding Pamana’s Death” dated October 7, 2015 in the eBon online newsletter, quoted PEF Executive Director Dennis Salvador as saying “90% of young eagles (aged 1 to 2 years old) that were rehabilitated and released into the wild by PEF ended up getting killed by people with guns.” Had these information been available during the hearing, it is highly likely that the senators would have passed upon the PEF practice of loosing eagles into their natural habitats.
Thus, it is but proper that the Senate call back the PEF for enlightenment on its dispersal program. There is urgency for the hearing because of the plan of the PEF to release “Maslog E. S,” the eagle recovered in barangay Carayacay, Maslog, Eastern Samar on June 17, 2019 (“PH eagle rescued from chicken trap in Eastern Samar forest,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, July 10, 2019) to the Maslog forest, the same area where it was caught in a trap.
The PEF officials should explain how the dispersal program has so far helped in pulling the critically endandered species away from the brink of extinction. If the program has instead set back the cause, they should justify their plan to release “Maslog E. S.”
With the proven safety and breeding success of eagles in the Philippine Eagle Center (PEC) and the recently inked Wildlife Loan Agreement between the Philippines and Singapore which brought a pair of eagles to the Jurong Park in the city state last month, the PEF should be asked where eagles have a better chance of survival and impacting the conservation of the Philippine Eagle – out in the wilds on one hand or in the PEC or a foreign park on the other?
Personally, it would be wise for the legislators to consider amending Republic Act No. 9147 or the “Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act” to make reckless dispersal of endangered species a punishable act as this would instill desperately needed common sense and prudence among local conservationists.
Just to prove how detached from reality PEF people are, days before the hearing, Salvador had told media that despite what happened to “Pamana,” they will continue releasing eagles to the wilds “because that is where they belong” and during the hearing, he tagged excessive hunting as the foremost threat to the species and had recommended the “reasonably strict, certain and swift” enforcement of wildlife laws as antidote. First, Salvador does not realize it was its freedon that brought the eagle to these straits. Second, PEF decision-makers were fully aware that the conditions suited for the bird’s freedom do not exist thus their recommendations but nonetheless had previously released the 15 eagles as though the longed for conditions already existed. No wonder two-thirds of the dispersed eagles got wasted.
It’s high time the insane dispersal program of the PEF is scrapped.**
