DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio issued a warning against groups using her name in a bid to illegally trade the fossilized “taklobo” or giant clams.
Duterte-Carpio on Thursday denied such involvement in an issued statement forwarded to the media on September 12.
The mayor received a report that there is a certain middleman for the trade of taklobo using her name to evade arrest in police operations in Calatagan, Batangas.
"The public is hereby informed that I do not participate in this trade," Duterte-Carpio said in a statement.
"Furthermore, I do not participate, support or condone any criminal activity and have not told anyone to use my name if they are caught by the police, AFP, NBI or any other enforcement organization," she added.
The mayor, who is currently on medical leave, urged the public to immediately arrest people using her name for their criminal activities and not to believe in their alibis.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (Bfar)-Central Visayas has declared taklobo as endangered species.
According to Bfar, taklobo is now in the list of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) and determined by Fisheries Administrative Order 208 as endangered.
Bfar also said "fishing or taking, gathering, selling, purchasing, possessing, transporting, exporting, forwarding or shipping out" of taklobo is deemed unlawful under Republic Act 10654, or the Philippine Fisheries Code.