Group reveals online selling of black corals

Foreign companies are openly hawking online shells allegedly extracted illegally from Philippine shores unchecked by the government and encouraged by its low penalties for violators, a young environmentalist said on Wednesday.

Anna Oposa of the Law of Nature Foundation made this disclosure at the opening of the Senate committee on the environment’s inquiry into the attempt to smuggle P35 million worth of rare black corals, seashells and stuffed green turtles out of the country last month.

Oposa said her group reported the operations of Shell Horizons, a Florida-based company that collects and exports shells from the Philippines, to the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), but it was given the usual runaround.

“There was absolutely no sense of urgency from any of the government agencies,” she said.

Oposa pointed out that the government had not taken her group seriously until the Inquirer ran a story on the smuggling attempt and other newspapers followed suit.

Customs agents seized the P35-million cargo of black corals, seashells and stuffed green sea turtles at the Manila port on May 1 from Cotabato.

The contraband was bound for either China or Europe, where the items could be fashioned into jewelry, officials said.

In a PowerPoint presentation, Oposa, daughter of environmental lawyer Antonio Oposa, also showed the websites of denisbrand, Top Sea Shells and Shell Store “openly selling” protected seashells allegedly taken from the Philippines. She said denisbrand sold black corals.

Tougher laws urged

Oposa proposed that lawmakers revise laws by including a provision regulating the collection of nonendangered shells.

She noted that the trading of wildlife species was punishable by the Fisheries Code with imprisonment of six months to two years and a fine of P2,000 to P20,000, while the same offense was penalized by the Wildlife Act of the Philippines with imprisonment of 10 days to one month, and P200 to P20,000 fine.

“The punishment does not match the severity of the crime. Just two years in jail for the criminal but at least two decades for the corals to recover,” she said.

Antonio Oposa proposed the creation of a legal team, headed by the BFAR, to draw up remedial measures.

“Our people have not seen what great beauty the underwater is and, therefore, can’t appreciate how beautiful it is,” he said.

Quoting a study “Reefs at Risk Revisited,” Lorenzo Tan, chief executive officer of the World Wide Fund-Philippines, said reefs in the Philippines were being threatened by unsustainable fishing and coastal development, pollution, the deforestation of uplands, the loss of mangroves and sea grass, and population stress.

“Once, our reefs were the size of the combined land area of the great provinces of Pangasinan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Zambales, Bataan, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal and Laguna. Now, the portions that remain excellent are down to the size of the island of Marinduque,” Tan said.

Key witness absent

Exequiel Navarro, the consignee in the P35-million smuggling attempt and the main witness in the hearing, did not show up at the Senate hearing.

Navarro confirmed his attendance on Tuesday night, but he told the committee on Wednesday that he could not make it because he had not completed his documents and that his family had been distressed by news linking him to the crime.

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, chair of the investigating committee, said Navarro held the key to the identity of the “true owners” and local and foreign financiers, some of them Chinese.

“We would like to remind you (Exequiel Navarro) that you’re now cited for contempt,” Zubiri said. “We’re going to pass a resolution for your subpoena, and subsequent arrest if you don’t attend the hearing on Monday morning.”

He said the committee would detain Navarro “until he mentions the true owners of the shipment.”

Otherwise, it would “support and protect” him if he cooperates, he said.

Criminal charges

Criminal charges are to be filed Thursday against Navarro, according to Maj. Isabelo Tibayan of the customs police. He told the Senate committee that Navarro had identified the shipper as Li N Lim Trading, but that this still had to be verified.

Investigators are proceeding to Zamboanga this week to trace the origin of the contraband, PAWB Director Theresa Mundita Lim said.

“And if we’re able to determine where they could have been collected in the Moro Gulf, we could do some diving to check the ‘before and after’ rape of marine area,” she said.

Assistant Director Benjamin Tabios of the BFAR said the cargo could have been consolidated in Zamboanga City.

Shipments from Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi are brought to Zamboanga before they are shipped to Manila, Cebu or any other area, Tabios said.

“They were not collected in a day but over a span of time,” he said.

Rosella Contreras of the BFAR told the Inquirer in Zamboanga City on Wednesday that 10 tons of corals seized from 1994 to 2007 remained in its office on R.T. Lim Street. She said cases filed against suspected smugglers remained pending. With a report from Julie Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao