Police seize 2,000 geckos in GenSan

GENERAL SANTOS City, Philippines—Government agents on Tuesday seized 2,000 geckos from a trading company here and invited 15 other persons for questioning.

Senior Superintendent Albert Fierro, director of the police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Mindanao, said Wednesday the raid on Mindanao Development Venture and Trade in Barangay (village) Lagao was carried out by agents of the CIDG, the National Bureau of Investigation and other police units after it was ascertained that the company was engaged in the buying and selling of the reptiles.

Trading in geckos and other wildlife is outlawed under the country’s environmental laws.

Fierro said Mario Librada Legazpi, owner of the trading company, initially reasoned that the geckos were to be used in organic farming. But he said representatives of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources were not swayed.

Fierro said PAWB representatives suspected the geckos were to be sold to people who believed the reptiles have medicinal qualities and could be used to cure various ailments.

In other countries, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, these are being passed off as cures for cancer and even the human immunodeficiency virus.

A 300-gram gecko could fetch P45,000 in the black market.

“The payoff for the 2,000 geckos was supposed to take place on Wednesday but we were able to prevent it,” he said.

Fierro said charges of violation of the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act were now being readied against Legazpi and his companions.

The seized reptiles, meanwhile, would be released back to the wild, he said.