5 villagers questioned on killing of Pamana

GERLIE, a 35-year-old Philippine eagle was blinded in one eye from a slingshot injury at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City. She is the only Philippine eagle in the capital and was transferred to Metro Manila in 2009 from the Philippine Eagle Foundation in Davao City to help educate people about the plight of endangered species in the wild who are threatened on a daily basis. RAFFY LERMA

SAN ISIDRO, Davao Oriental— Five people will be invited for questioning in connection with the death of Pamana, the juvenile Philippine eagle that was released in Mt. Hamiguitan here two months ago.

The Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) earlier reported that the five persons were seen in Mindangan River on Aug. 8, eight days before Pamana was found dead with a bullet wound on its chest. At that time the PEF team was monitoring Pamana.

“We stopped first in the river for lunch before we went on tracking. Then a group of at least five people from (Barangay) Tumalete arrived. They told us that they will proceed to the headwaters of Mindangan to look for shrimps,” the PEF report said.

Already identified

San Isidro Mayor Tina Yu said they had already identified the five persons and would be talking to them today.

The Mindangan River, which is located below ravines and subcanopy, was one of the areas where the PEF team went to observe Pamana. It was near the Mindangan River that the PEF team last saw Pamana alive. On Aug. 16, the PEF team found the carcass of Pamana under a tree some 10 meters from the river.

The area where Pamana was found dead is part of the buffer zone of Mt. Hamiguitan, which is a UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) World Heritage Site. “It is outside the protected area,” Yu said.

‘Still hurting’

Two months after her release on June 12, Pamana stayed within the buffer zone.

“I’m still hurting,” Yu said in an interview on Friday.

But Yu said they should not be blamed for what happened to Pamana.

“I understand the initial reaction blaming us, but we did not anticipate that that thing was going to happen,” she said.

“Aside from the PEF team, there were forest guards that helped monitor Pamana. Even the people living in communities near Mt. Hamiguitan are concerned about Pamana,” the mayor said.

“It’s really a shock for us that this thing happened. Maybe there are still people who do not know that we should protect not only Pamana, but every living thing in Mt. Hamiguitan,” Yu said.

“Maybe the person who did this thought Pamana was just an ordinary bird. Maybe the person who did this is that ignorant,” Yu said.

She said she has ordered the police to continue with its investigation and have the culprit arrested.

Dolores Valdesco, heritage officer of Davao Oriental, earlier said it was unfair for people to accuse them of “incapable of protecting important wildlife species with just one isolated case.”

At least three wild Philippine Eagles are inside the Mt. Hamiguitan range.

“People should not blame us (provincial government) or the municipal government or the PEF for what happened to Pamana. No one among us wanted this to happen,” Valdesco said.

P350-K reward

She added that the mere fact Gov. Corazon Malanyaon pledged P50,000 for the reward money, which has reached P350,000 last Friday, meant that the province’s chief executive wanted the killer of Pamana identified, arrested, prosecuted and convicted.

On social media, a lot people have questioned the findings of the PEF team that Pamana was shot dead.

But Yu said she agreed with the PEF findings. “I go by the results of the necropsy. We cannot refute that. We do not have anything that would prove otherwise,” she said.

There were also those who questioned why it took four days for the PEF to inform the local government about the death of Pamana.

Giovanne Tampos, the PEF senior biologist who found Pamana’s carcass in Mindangan River on Aug. 10, said they had to rush the decomposing Pamana to the Philippine Eagle Center in Davao City for the necropsy.

“We decided not to inform the concerned local officials to avoid confusion. If we told them at a time when we still did not know the cause of Pamana’s death, it would have resulted to more confusion. The governor or the mayor would not be able to answer questions if they were not provided the complete data,” Tampos said.

Also lost job

“The one who shot has to be found,” Tourism Assistant Secretary Art Boncato said in an interview.

Jong-Jong Bernales, 31, PEF’s biodiversity technician, agreed. Bernales said they did not only lost Pamana, he also lost his job.

Algen Agua, another PEF biodiversity technician, who was also fired as a result of Pamana’s death, said he would temporarily go back to driving a pedicab. Nico Alconaba, Inquirer Mindanao