DENR asked: Check display of Tarsiers

The continued inaction of government authorities on the commercial display of the Tarsiers again caught public attention as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is urged to review wildlife registration certificates issued to tourism establishments here.

As new reports surface on the maltreatment of caged and captive tarsiers, Environmental Legal Assistance Center (Elac) executive director Raul Barbarona called on the DENR to review all certificates of wildlife farm permits it issued to business establishments especially in the towns of Loboc and Loay.

“Since the issuance of the permits is legally binding on the part of the permittees, then there should be a legal process for its revocation based on documented violations,” Barbarona said.

The DENR should likewise check whether these establishments holding captive tarsiers are observing the guidelines contained in the DENR certifications, such as their technical capabilities to hold captive the threatened species.

After an incident occurred between a tourist and a Cebu-based tour guide who allowed his guests to poke and force-feed the tarsiers in one establishment in Loboc, the issue regarding the permittees’ capability to hold the tarsiers in its possession has died down without any recommendations coming from the DENR.

Barbarona received reports that tourists visiting tarsier viewing sites in Loboc continue to hold the tiny species and even use camera flash when taking pictures within a close distance from the tarsiers.

According to Barbarona, instead of correcting and monitoring these reported incidents, “the DENR seems to be paying no attention on this unrestrained abuse”.

For his part, provincial board member Alfonso Damalerio II, principal author of an ordinance prohibiting the display of tarsiers outside its natural habitat, said the implementation of the provincial measure is already an executive prerogative.

There have been reports that the ordinance remains inutile as the executive has not crafted its implementing rules and regulations.

Barbarona said, the provincial government should check whether the DENR has issued new wildlife farm permits and ensure that compliance with the permit’s guidelines is followed.

Anti-reclamation group forged

Fishermen and villagers opposed to the ambitious plan to reclaim some 500-hectares off Panglao Bay have found an ally in former mayor Dr. Doloreich Dumaluan who vowed to mount a strong protest against the multi-billion proposal.

Concerns raised by oppositors to the project have remained muted until the group organized into Panglaoanons Against Reclamation (Pare) last week.

“There is no need to add artificial islets through reclamation in Panglao. More than losing its stature as a renowned natural tourist attraction, hundreds of marine species found in the proposed reclamation site will be destroyed,” Dumaluan stressed.

Two proponents have signified interest in the reclamation project aiming to convert a huge portion of Panglao Bay into hectares of prime land that will become a center of commerce, resorts and coastal tourism activities.

If the project pushes through, it would be the biggest offshore reclamation in the country that would compete with world-class developments that are drawing tourists.

Of the two proponents, one is entering into a joint venture with the provincial government to organize a consortium of giant and reputable developers.

With the May elections drawing near, the proposal promises to be a hot issue in Panglao among reelectionist Mayor Benedicto Alcala and three other aspirants for the town’s top post.

MARINE SPECIES

But Dumaluan said he has no political agenda in waging war against the proponents of the project.

Unlike his opposition to the Panglao Bohol International Airport Development Project, Dumaluan cited marine researches showing the rich biodiversity around Panglao Island, including the planned site.

Project proponents have identified Panglao Bay as an ideal site for the reclamation since there are no marine sanctuaries in the area and its maximum water depth reaches only 0.4 meters during high tide.

Dumaluan however disagrees saying Panglao Island itself is considered as a center of biodiversity.

In 2007, a marine research team has found up to 250 new species of crustacean and 2,500 previously unknown species of mollusk around the island, the former mayor noted.

The team - composed of 80 scientists, technicians, students and volunteers from 19 countries - also gathered specimens previously regarded as rare to very rare, including those previously thought not to exist in the Philippines.

The discoveries are considered the most comprehensive survey of deep-sea invertebrates in the tropics.

The new discoveries were the product of the Panglao Marine Biodiversity Project, the most comprehensive survey of deep-sea invertebrates in the tropics conducted from 2004 to 2005.

The former mayor cited that holotypes of the rare and new species have found its way to the Philippine National Museum to be available to scientists worldwide.

“Scientists from other countries said that Panglao alone is higher in diversity compared to Japan and the Mediterranean,” he added.

Species found during the survey include crustacean - a group that includes crayfish, crabs, lobsters and shrimps - and some hundreds of species of mollusks

MORE DETAILED STUDY

One of the proponents negotiating with the provincial government for a joint venture undertaking, Oasis Leisure Islands Development Inc. (OLIDI), however said that they will still come out with a detailed mapping of the proposed project site.

Norris Oculam, OLIDI president, explained to the Chronicle that issues raised by environmental groups and so-called oppositors are premature.

“We have learned that the other proponent already conducted boring tests in the area even without clearance from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), but as far as our group is concerned, we still have to make consultations with stakeholders,” he said.

Oculam said, after the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) authorized last week Gov. Erico Aumentado to enter into negotiations for a joint venture, their next step will be the environmental and social study.

“This will be our basis if the proposal is ‘a go or no go’, but right now, everything is in the drawing board,” he explained.

He added that the public should not be prejudiced with sweeping statements of self-styled environmentalist regarding possible destruction the project would inflict on marine life in the area.

Oculam’s group, backed by biologists and marine scientists, will map out and survey every single square meter of the area to obtain the real dimensions about its marine life.

“We have to see if there is actually biodiversity in the proposed site, identify the species, before making judgments. Right now, what we have heard so far from oppositors are highly speculative and doubtful.”

Oculam said the determinant factor is the outcome of the environmental study and its social acceptability.

Bohol bans tarsiers display

By Kit Bagaipo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 18:13:00 02/26/2009

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines — An international wildlife foundation has lauded Bohol lawmakers for its landmark legislation banning the viewing of tarsiers outside of their natural habitats.

The praises from the Born Free Foundation, an international wildlife charity group based in the United Kingdom, came even as local businessmen who had been displaying tarsiers for tourist viewing lobbied for the scrapping of the provincial ordinance.

Despite the ordinance's passage by the provincial board last February 3, Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado had not signed the measure as of Thursday.

The Born Free Foundation thanked the Bohol provincial board for introducing the ordinance, which they called "forward thinking" and a "compassionate decision."

The letter from BFF senior scientific researcher Chris Draper was received by Board Members Alfonso Damalerio II and Esther Corazon Galbreath.

"The Philippines can be justifiably proud of this legislation, and it is our hope that other regions and countries may look to your example when considering similar legislation," Draper said.

The foundation is working throughout the world to stop individual wild animal suffering and to protect threatened species in the wild.

In a visit to Bohol last January, a television crew of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) featured the tarsiers in one of its documentary that will be shown all over the world.

The BBC crew, headed by celebrated British TV presenter and author Simon Reeve highlighted the need for rescue and care of the endangered species that are caged and displayed outside its natural habitat.

The provincial ordinance was adopted after calls to rescue the vulnerable tarsiers from its misery in tiny cages and give them lifetime care at spacious sanctuaries such as the 8-hectare sanctuary of the Philippine Tarsier Foundation in Corella town.

However, Damalerio also expressed disappointment over moves of some business establishments to block the implementation of the new ordinance.

"Instead of cooperating to return the tarsiers to the wild, most of the businesses engaged in the display of tarsiers are lobbying for the scrapping of the law," said Damalerio who is the principal author of the ordinance.