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Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Council passes law on wildlife protection
By Danilo V. Adorador III
FOLLOWING the discovery of a threatened species here, the City Council of Cagayan de Oro passed an ordinance Monday protecting local wildlife.
The proposed measure was set in motion after the capture of a Philippine Tarsier (Tarsius syrichta) and the sightings of 14 others last Good Friday at Sitio Tagbocboc in Barangay Bayanga.
A farmer named Armi Mabaylan sighted and captured one of the primates at his farm, reported acting City Tourism Officer Imma Rae Gatuslao.
The primate was presented Monday to Mayor Vicente Emano, who asked the City Council to fast track the creation of a law to make Cagayan de Oro a Wildlife Friendly City.
The mayor's request, however, may hang on for a while after the proposed law was shelved when the penal provisions became a thorny issue among the majority members in the City Council.
Majority Floor Leader Edgar Cabanlas opposed the maximum one year imprisonment and the P5,000 fines -- the maximum penalties the law allows local government units to impose, citing that under the country's Wildlife Act, the penalties for hurting endangered animals are much rigid.
He said the proposed penalties under the ordinance might weaken the national law.
That drew a rebuttal from Councilor Simeon Licayan who favored giving local prosecutors the discretion to select between the local and national statutes, or impose the twin penal provisions altogether.
Licayan argued that as a local government unit, the City has every legal right to impose its own penalties, lesser they may be.
Collection, hunting, harvesting, transport and trading of endangered species are among the prohibitions that the proposed law seeks to impose.
The Philippine Tarsier, touted to be the smallest primates in the world, is a nocturnal animal commonly found in Bohol and is also sighted in certain parts of Leyte and Mindanao.
Because of dwindling rainforest and massive hunting, it is estimated that there are between 5,000 and 10,000 Tarsiers left in the world, however that number is known to be falling.
Tarsiers do not live long in captivity and is said commit suicide by banging their heads on something hard when caged.
Former President Fidel V. Ramos had signed Proclamation 1030, which has made the Tarsier there protected species.
(April 18, 2006 issue)
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