‘Malang’ catchers now employed by municipal gov’t

LARGEST FRESHWATER CROC “Malang.” FILE PHOTO

MLANG, North Cotabato—The two fishermen who captured Malang, said to be the largest freshwater crocodile ever caught, have been formally employed by the local government.

Mayor Joselito Piñol said Mao Mohalidden and Oman Bojo were now the municipality’s designated environment watchers and have been deployed to portion of the Liguasan Marsh within the municipality’s boundary.

Mohalidden and Bojo caught the 2.18-meter Malang on April 12 and turned him over to authorities the following day after they failed to get paid for their effort.

Prior to Malang’s capture, the largest freshwater crocodile known to have been captured was 1.68 meters long.

“This is a reward of some sort,” Piñol said of the hiring of the two fishermen. But their familiarity with the marshland was the main reason for their employment is it made them effective environmental law implementers.

Mohalidden and Bojo were fishermen based in Barangay Dungguan, which is on the edge of marsh.

Piñol said the salaries of two fishermen will be taken from the town’s general fund.

But he quickly added that their employment would not prevent them from doing their usual thing, catching catfish and mudfish.

“They can continue fishing while protecting endangered species such as Malang in the marshland,” he said.

Meanwhile, animals belonging to another protected species were returned to their habitat on Wednesday.

Piñol said three tarsiers that a resident found on her farm in Barangay (village) New Antique had been sent back to a forest near the Liguasan Marsh because of sightings of similar creatures there in the past.

“Even in my farm in Barangay Gaunan I saw these kinds of creatures,” he said.

Datu Tungku Saikol, director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Mindanao, said he has issued a directive for the documentation and monitoring of the tarsier population in the marsh.

“It was my first time to hear they exist there and it would be better to conduct documentation as to their population and actual habitat,” he said.

Piñol said he has asked the Sangguniang Bayan to draft a resolution declaring the periphery of the marsh a protected area to preserve the flora and fauna found there.

Aside from various bird species such as the equally endangered hornbill, wild boars and deer have reportedly been seen there.

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