ON October 11 the Bureau of Customs intercepted a live reticulated python from an outbound parcel in the warehouse of DHL, a German courier, at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
The New York-bound parcel was declared as “wood curtains,” “lanterns” and “rattan basket”, except that the “rattan basket” contained the python, commonly known as sawa in the Philippines.
Wildlife law enforcers believe the smuggling attempt will happen again and again, especially now that the government has decided to soon ease the restriction on non-essential travels to open up the economy, and hopefully boost tourism and kickstart the economy after the long economic slump during the pandemic-forced lockdowns.
Community quarantine impacts
DESPITE the community quarantines that resulted in travel restrictions across the globe, the challenge posed by the illegal wildlife trade, a P50-billion-a-year industry in the Philippines, became even more alarming amid the public health emergency.
The environmental pressure is aggravated by the economic impact of the community quarantines that compelled tens of thousands of businesses to close shop, in the process rendering millions of Filipinos jobless, Nilo Tamoria, the chief of the DENR’s Environmental Protection and Enforcement Task Force (EPETF), said.
Tamoria said such economic situation gave rise to so-called “plantitos” and “plantitas” whose “hobby” and desire to cash in from “plant parenting” turned them into instant customers of enterprising Filipinos who have been gathering wild plants in the forests for easy cash.
“Before, we only go after traders of wild animals. Now, we are also busy going after plant poachers,” Tamoria said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Collection guidelines, special permits
UNDER the Wildlife Act, collecting plants in the forest, especially in Protected Areas, requires a special permit coming from the DENR, Assistant Secretary Ricardo Calderon, concurrent director of the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), said.
Otherwise, Calderon said those collecting plants, like those illegally catching wild animals, risk being slapped with penalties and fines under the law upon apprehension.
According to Calderon, collection permits are issued on condition that the collectors will not sell the plants they gathered, but may propagate and sell the progeny. This, however, will require strict monitoring by the DENR.
As such, the DENR official said the issuance of collector’s permits comes after due diligence.
Tamoria added that there’s a proposal to register wild plants by those who engage in propagation and trading. “Like animals, these plants should be registered so that we will know if they are progenies or legally acquired,” says Tamoria.
Beside, he said, not all plants —or even animals—can survive outside their natural habitats, a reason for DENR’s strict enforcement of the law.
IWT trends
EMERSON Y. SY, a researcher at the anti-wildlife trafficking non-government organization TRAFFIC, said that aside from the fact that the illegal wildlife trade (IWT) has worsened, the Covid-19 pandemic and the community lockdowns in the Philippines saw the illegal wildlife trade shifting from Palawan species to Luzon species. Sy was referring to targeted bird species by traders catering to the illicit pet trade. As for reptiles, he said there was not much of a change or shift.
“Palawan wildlife is very dissimilar to the rest of the country. Palawan’s wildlife is more similar to that of Borneo,” he said.
To demonstrate, he said that in 2018, the top 5 illegally traded native birds were the Palawan Hill Myna, Blue-naped Parrot, Lowland White-eye, Philippine Hanging Parrot and Brahminy Kite. In 2019 it’s the Palawan Hill Myna, Black-naped Oriole, Blue-naped Parrot, Blue-crowned Racquet-tail and Large-billed Crow.
In 2020, from January to August, the top 5 illegally traded species are the Black-naped Oriole, White-eared Brown Dove, Philippine Hanging Parrot, Large-billed Crow and Pink-necked Green Pigeon.
Reduced mobility, checkpoints
THE new trend or shift from Palawan to Luzon birds as the target may be explained by the strict enforcement of the community quarantine rules where travel is greatly reduced. “Illegal wildlife traders have trouble smuggling species out of Palawan to mainland Luzon because there are too many checkpoints,” he said.
“Before, apprehensions involved Mynah and Blue-naped Parrots, but since the lockdown, more birds can be found in mainland Luzon.” This, he said, may be because of the fact that most traders are from mainland Luzon. Although Palawan is politically part of Luzon, biogeographically Palawan does not belong to Luzon, that is why the wildlife on the island paradise can be considered rare or exotic, compared to that in mainland Luzon.
Another factor that can be considered as the reason for the shift of IWT from Palawan to mainland Luzon is the fact that law-enforcement activities have intensified more in Palawan specifically targeting those engaging in IWT.
Pandemic accomplishments
DESPITE the pandemic, the BMB’s Wildlife Confiscation Record reveals substantial accomplishments. Apprehensions include exotic animals such as the seizure of two Serval Cats, Ducorp Cockatoo, Blue and Gold Macaw on May 5 in Antipolo, Rizal; A White-breasted Sea Eagle, 2 Brahminy Kites, a Changeable Hawk-Eagle seized on June 6, in Santa Mesa, Manila.
On July 9, authorities also confiscated in Tondo, Manila, six Diamondback Terrapins, three African spurred Tortoises, 11 Black Pond Turtles, and 22 Red-footed Tortoises.
Four other operations in various parts of Metro Manila and Cainta, Rizal, between June 8 and August 25 resulted in the confiscation of agarwood derivatives weighing a total of 27.36 kilos. Agarwood is critically endangered and its derivatives are highly in demand. Because of its rare fragrance, it sells for as much as $30,000 per kilogram.
Online selling
MEANWHILE, noticeable is the fact that many people are now into online selling, including bird traps.
According to Sy, the strict enforcement of community quarantines had somehow benefited the fight against illegal wildlife trade. Because of this, he said there was a shift of the market from physical to online.
“This should be a cue for law enforcers to also shift monitoring and enforcement online.” In particular, he said law enforcers should be monitoring Facebook, jabbing at the social-media platform’s failure to curb illegal selling of wild-caught animals and even equipment that can be used to catch them in the wild.
“The biggest challenge now is [that] Facebook is not doing enough to shut down groups and accounts engaged in illegal trade on its platform,” he said.
According to Sy, the DENR through the BMB is monitoring social media actively. However, he said “they need more staff since there are hundreds of wildlife trade groups on Facebook.”
According to Sy, IWT is a demand-driven market. “Buyers dictate what wild species are desirable [endangered, perceived to be rare] and the price,” he said.
The fight continues
EVEN though it is the agency mandated to enforce various environmental laws, DENR is compelled to operate under strict quarantine rules set by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases.
The DENR has been operating with a skeletal workforce until now, while the rest are on a work-from-home scheme. But that has not stopped the illicit activities of unscrupulous people at the expense of the country’s threatened wildlife—both plants and animals.
The implementation and enforcement of environmental laws saw no hindrance and obstacles even with the Covid-19 pandemic, Tamoria said.
“We have established a network of assets for information and intelligence gathering, be it from reports directly addressed to the office, anonymous tips and posts from social-media platforms,” he said.
In coordination with other law-enforcement agencies, the EPETF has significantly apprehended environmental offenders and confiscated illegally traded wildlife and agarwood, notwithstanding threats from armed and dangerous criminals.
According to Tamoria, the only way to effectively fight illegal wildlife trade—the fourth largest transnational crime next to drugs, arms and human trafficking—is by establishing a law-enforcement unit dedicated to fighting environmental crimes. He is referring to the proposed bill creating the Environmental Protection and Enforcement Bureau which is gaining traction in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
He said the only way to fight environmental crimes is by creating an enforcement bureau specializing in the enforcement of various environmental laws.
“That is why we are pushing for the enactment of a law that will create a separate enforcement bureau within the DENR to fight environmental crimes, particularly the illegal wildlife trade,” he said.
Image credits: David Havel | Dreamstime.com