THE Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) revealed that the Philippine Eagles are not only facing habitat and survival crises but also a genetic risk, as a new study on the species revealed a limited gene pool that could pose a risk to the animals’ future.
Dr. Jayson Ibañez, PEF Director of Research and Conservation, said that the newest risk to the endangered Philippine Eagle is the genetic crisis, since most Philippine Eagles have low genetic diversity, which increases the possibility that eagle offspring will suffer reduced fitness, lower survival rates, and diminished adaptability.
“May alarming ang situation. We really need to act now, and one way of acting is really supporting the conservation breeding program (There is an alarming situation; we really need to act now, and one way of doing that is by supporting the conservation breeding program),” he said during the Kapehan sa Dabaw on Monday, May 4, 2026, at SM City Davao.
Ibañez said that the Philippine Eagles are facing a habitat crisis because the forests where they reside are slowly diminishing. He said that the eagles are forest-dependent and are unable to live outside forests; hence, the best way to save them is to have as many forests as possible.
Another crisis they are facing is a survival crisis, with wild eagles being shot, trapped, and falling into the sea, which increases the mortality rate of eagles.
Ibañez said that the Philippine Eagle has very low genetic diversity, and there is an increase in cases of inbreeding, or the breeding of its close relatives in the wild, and this poses a big issue for the species.
He said one reason for the low genetic diversity of the wild Philippine Eagle is limited gene flow between subpopulations. Due to threats such as hunting and habitat pressure, young and immature eagles are forced to move to other areas.
Ibañez added that these survival risks are causing the country to lose younger eagles that should help spread genetic diversity across populations in different regions.
He added that the mortality rate of juvenile and immature Philippine Eagles is high, and this is reflected in the number of Philippine Eagles they rescued over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He reported that from 2019 to 2022, they rescued 20 eagles, the highest number of rescues in the foundation. Of the 20 eagles rescued, 18 were juvenile and immature. Ibañez said that most of the eagles were shot or trapped, and some fell into the sea.
Importance of conservation breeding
As the genetic pool of wild Philippine Eagles is decreasing, Ibañez said that this is where the conservation efforts of the foundation could help in diversifying the genetic pool through cooperative artificial insemination.
He said that under this methodology, the female Philippine Eagle would be able to receive semen from multiple male eagles. Through this process, the foundation would be able to increase the breeding capabilities of the eagles.
Ibañez said that through cooperative artificial insemination, they were able to double the breeding of Philippine Eagles from one egg every two years to two eggs per year. He added that by using different semen from male Philippine Eagles for artificial insemination, the foundation would be able to maximize the genetic diversity of the offspring.
Once the offspring are nurtured and raised for the wild, they would be released into isolated mountains so that they could introduce a new bloodline to the wild population of Philippine Eagles.
Ibañez said that they have 16 Philippine Eagles to help develop genetically diverse offspring; hence, they are asking for help from the public in sponsoring three cages at the National Bird Breeding Sanctuary (NBBS) in Toril, where the breeding eagles are kept.
He said that through science, support from the local government, and the public, the low genetic diversity of Philippine Eagles can still be reversed and increase the eagles’ survival instead.
Ibañez said that the study would be the blueprint for the foundation in improving its conservation efforts for the country’s national bird. The study was conducted in 2025, wherein blood samples of the eagles were collected in February 2025 during a general physical exam. The publication on the low genetic diversity of eagles was then published in April 2026.
He then thanked the Philippine Genome Center at the University of the Philippines–Diliman for conducting the research on the genetics of the Philippine Eagle, because they now know how to best pair the eagles in conservation. He said that they would no longer pair eagles with genetic similarity to avoid abnormalities and weaker offspring.
He also reported that based on the annual physical examination, all 31 Philippine Eagles under the care of the foundation are in perfect health.
Fast-tracking of translocation
With the low genetic diversity, Ibañez said that they are looking into fast-tracking the translocation of Philippine Eagles to other areas to diversify the genetic pool of the subspecies there.
He said that among the Philippine Eagles in the country, the Samar subspecies are the most to suffer from inbreeding due to the lack of genetic input from eagles in Leyte after its population was wiped out by Typhoon Yolanda.
He explained that it only takes one Philippine Eagle in every generation (40–50 years) to migrate from one population to another to continue the gene flow. However, with the dwindling number of eagles, this phenomenon is no longer happening.
Ibañez said that through the study, the foundation already has robust data on Philippine Eagles, which would accelerate their plan to translocate Philippine Eagles to help diversify the population in Samar. He said that they are planning to translocate more eagles to Leyte by 2026. RGP
