Philippine eagle is rallying point for Agno watershed conservation

SAN MANUEL, Pangasinan—The Philippine eagle has become the rallying point of watershed conservation efforts in the Agno River system in northern Luzon.

With the belief that the revival of the population of Philippine eagles in the Cordillera-Caraballo mountain ranges would boost the watershed feeding the Agno River system, the San Roque Power Corp. and the Philippine Eagle Foundation launched on Thursday a watershed diversity survey and the Philippine Eagle Habitat Suitability Assessment project in the area.

The SRPC operates the San Roque multipurpose dam project here.

Tom Valdez, SRPC vice president for corporate affairs, said there have been sightings of Philippine eagles in the past in the Agno River watershed and the firm hopes to bring back the national bird here.

“If we protect the eagle, then we also protect the forest,” Valdez told reporters during the launch.

A preserved Philippine eagle from Davao was brought here for an exhibit during the project launch. Staff members of the PEF met teachers and students here and talked about efforts to conserve and protect the Philippine eagle. The students planted trees at the dam’s view deck.

Dennis Salvador, PEF executive director, said a way to save the Agno watershed is through public education and eagle conservation, which complement the tree planting efforts.

He said this underscores the fact that “forests are not only [made up of] trees but an entire ecosystem.”

The five-year project will start with a survey of existing habitat of the Philippine eagle in the area. A massive information campaign among school children and communities on the importance of the raptor is part of the project’s initial phase.

This will be followed by an assessment for future test releases of captive eagles.

Salvador said it is important that the area where Philippine eagles would be released hosts a healthy population of prey, such as reptiles and mammals, to sustain the bird population.

The next phase is breeding the eagles in the area and their eventual release to the wild.

On the day of the project launch, 90 tree saplings were planted by students of the Bobon Elementary School, teachers and officials of Pangasinan and Benguet at the dam’s view deck. The activity was led by Ryukichi Kawaguchi, SRPC president and chief executive officer, and Washington SyCip, founder of the auditing and financial services firm SGV & Co.

The tree planting activity was SRPC’s way of honoring SyCip, who celebrated his 90th birthday on June 30. SyCip is a trustee of the Synergia Foundation, which has been supporting the SRPC’s reading and mathematics proficiency program.

The program is a component of SRPC’s Bringing the Power of Education to the Community program that is aimed at enhancing the quality of education in the host communities of the San Roque Dam.

The memorandum of understanding for the fifth year implementation of the reading and mathematics proficiency program among SRPC, Synergia and the towns of San Manuel and San Nicolas in Pangasinan and Itogon, Benguet, was also signed on Thursday.