ENVIRONMENT Secretary Roy A. Cimatu on Sunday lauded concerned citizens for reporting suspicious activities involving illegal trade in wildlife.
This after authorities, acting on a tip by concerned citizens, arrested three suspected wildlife traders engaged in the lucrative exotic pet trade and rescued various native species caught in the wild.
A total of 56 heads of wildlife species—including the endangered green iguana and red-footed tortoise—with a total estimated value of 300,000 were recovered following a raid by operatives of the Philippine Operations Group on Ivory and Illegal Wildlife Trade, or Task Force Pogi, at the residence of one of the suspects in Barangay Banus in Gloria town in Oriental Mindoro.
In a statement, Cimatu noted how ordinary people reporting suspicious activities to authorities make a difference in the fight against illegal wildlife trade.
“Members of the public play an important role in protecting wildlife species, particularly reporting suspected violations of the country’s wildlife protection law,” Cimatu said.
He urged the public to continue being the DENR’s “eyes and ears” in the street to stop illegal activities. Illegal wildlife trade is considered a major driver of biodiversity loss.
It was learned that Task Force Pogi received a tip that an alleged illegal wildlife trader residing in Oriental Mindoro was temporarily sheltering various wildlife species from Palawan before these are transported to different buyers across the country.
This prompted Task Force Pogi operatives to conduct surveillance to validate the report.
After confirming that endangered wildlife was indeed being kept in the house of a certain Fernando Zamoranos Jr., Task Force Pogi immediately planned the raid with law enforcers.
Zamoranos, together with Zam Angelo Zamoranos and Jessie Dacutanan, were arrested and charged with violation of Republic Act 9147, or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act of 2001.
Under the law, violators could face a jail term of up to 12 years and a fine of not more than P1 million.
Task Force Pogi is a composite team of wildlife law enforcers from various agencies including the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau and the National Bureau of Investigation-Environmental Crime Division.
The Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro) in Oriental Mindoro assisted the task force in carrying out the raid.