Smugglers of wildlife from Mati nabbed in Tandag

– Bankerohan resident among those arrested in Surigao

CAGAYAN DE ORO (MindaNews) -- Police manning a checkpoint in Tandag City, Surigao del

Sur intercepted Sunday a shipment of wildlife, suspected to be coming from Davao Oriental, bound for the lucrative markets in Manila, authorities said.

A cursory check on two vehicles, a Ford Everest and a Toyota Innova, yielded cages of parrots, exotic monitor lizards and other endangered species at the checkpoint in Barangay Buenavista, Tandag City, Lt. Col. Christian Rafols II, PNP Caraga spokesperson, said.

Rafols said that when police officers demanded a

permit to transport wildlife, the three suspects on board the vehicles could not produce any.

He said the policemen immediately detained the suspects who were identified as Dante Toledo, 40, resident of Brgy. Calumpang in General Santos City; Joel Demoral, 38, resident of Bulua in Cagayan de Oro City; and Jory Demoral, 51, resident of Bankerohan in Davao City.

“Personnel from the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) together with our police officers are still conducting an inventory of the birds and animals,” Rafols said.

Rafols said the endangered birds and animals may have come from Mati City in Davao Oriental, and transported overland to Pasay City where there is a lucrative illegal wildlife trade.

“The forest around Mati city is a biodiversity hotspot and smugglers find it lucrative to bring the birds and animals to Manila,” he said.

Rafols said cases for violation of Republic Act No. 8485 or the Animal Welfare Act of 1998 will be filed against the suspects.

The Asian Development Bank in its March 2019 report estimated the value of illegal wildlife trade in the Philippines at P50 billion a year.

In 2016, the Biodiversity Conservation Society of the Philippines said the Philippines is a biodiversity hotspot, losing its many terrestrial and endemic species at a rapid rate. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)