By Recto Mercene & Jonathan L. Mayuga
PHILIPPINE eagle pair Geothermica and Sambisig, the first of their species to be covered by a wildlife loan agreement for adoption by a foreign country, was finally flown to Singapore on Tuesday morning.
Four-star carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) airlifted the two eagles from Davao on board flight PR 507 as part of the agreement between the Philippines and Singapore.
Environment Assistant Secretary Ricardo Calderon, together with Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for Asian and Pacific Affairs Meynardo Montealegre, Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) Chairman Edgar Chua and PEF Executive Director Dennis Salvador led the ceremonial “send-off” of the country’s “Ambassadors for Philippine Biodiversity Cosnervation” at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2.
The PEF manages the Philippine Eagle Center (PEC) where both Geothermica (male) and Sambisig (female) were hatched and reared.
“The flight from Manila to Singapore at exactly 9:55 a.m. via Philippine Airlines went on as scheduled,” Calderon, the concurrent director of the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) said.
Gerard Ho Wei Hong, the ambassador of Singapore to the Philippines, officially received Geothermica and Sambisig, both products of the PEF captive breeding program which has so far produced 28 captive-bred eagles at the Philippine Eagle Center in Davao City.
PAL President and COO Jaime Bautista said Jurong Bird Park will be the home of the two Philippine eagles for the next 10 years. “They will remain a property of the Philippines as the government has issued Philippine passports under their names.”
“The PEF hopes that through the eagle loan program, Wildlife Reserves Singapore can help secure a gene pool of the Philippine eagles for species conservation and as insurance against natural calamities that can wipe out the only captive Philippine eagle population at the PEC in Malagos, Davao City,” Bautista added.
This is the first international Philippine Eagle Loan Agreement between the governments of the Philippines, through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and Singapore to increase the eagles’ population.
The wildlife loan agreement (WLA) signed between the DENR and WRS last month highlighted the 50 years of diplomatic relations of the Philippines and Singapore, two of the five founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The adoption by Singapore of the Philippine eagle pair for the purpose of captive breeding aims to protect and conserve the country’s iconic bird, which is currently considered critically endangered.
According to the DENR, there are only around 400 pairs of the Philippine eagle left in the wild.
With the threat of extinction, sending off the Philippine eagle pair is considered an insurance that the species will not be wiped out in case of a deadly disease outbreak in the Philippines.
“With the partnership with the Wildlife Reserves Singapore and Singapore government commemorating 50 years of diplomatic relationship, the wildlife loan agreement highlighted the importance of the Philippine eagle,” said Calderon, the DENR’s assistant secretary for staff bureaus.
He said the WLA has already gained traction as far as the DENR is concerned, citing the jam-packed theater on Monday for the public screening of the documentary Bird of Prey at Cinema 3, UP Town Center.
“The Philippine eagle was highlighted similar to the Sumatra Tiger of Indonesia and the Giant Panda of China,” Calderon added.
Considered the largest of the extant eagles in the world in terms of length and wing surface, and among the rarest and most powerful birds in the world, the Philippine eagle has been declared the country’s national bird.
Image credits: PAL