Press Releases

Four illegal wildlife traders nabbed in Pampanga

Four suspected illegal wildlife traders including minors were arrested yesterday in Barangay San Rafael in Guagua town of Pampanga for selling monitor lizard (Varanus marmoratus) locally known as bayawak, after a joint operation conducted by the operatives of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the local police of Guagua in Pampanga.

According to Police Lieutenant Colonel Julius Javier, chief of the Guagua Municipal Police Station, their agents who posed as buyers and used marked money were able to buy one live bayawak worth P1,000 to a certain Raymond Sto. Domingo, 27, resident of Barangay Tokwing in Porac town and Marlon Dacani, 37, from Barangay Babo Sakan in Porac, both in Pampanga.

The suspects including the two minors who aged 15 and 17, residents of Barangay San Pedro in Sasmuan, Pampanga were immediately arrested while the team recovered from the possession of the suspect the marked money.

Laudemir Salac, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer (PENRO) in Pampanga said the DENR already filed charges against the suspects for violating Republic Act No. 9147 or the wildlife law while the two minors will be referred to the appropriate Municipal Social Work Development Office (MSWDO).

“Collecting, hunting, or possessing and trading of wildlife is punishable by a maximum imprisonment of one year and a fine of up to one million pesos, depending on the species, under the law” he explained.

He said the bayawak which was sold has already been rescued and will undergo rehabilitation in a wildlife center before being released back into its natural habitat.

Meanwhile, Paquito Moreno, Jr., executive director of the DENR in Central Luzon warned the public to refrain from catching and selling wildlife, and even eating its bushmeat to prevent the spread of another disease.

“If COVID-19 pandemic held a lesson for us, it’s that when it comes to wildlife, we have to live and let live,” he said, adding that consumption of wildlife is not just illegal but also exposes people to the dangers of catching and spreading zoonotic diseases.

Moreno expressed his gratitude to the public including the netizen who continue to be vigilant in monitoring and reporting wildlife and other environmental crimes. He also appealed to the public to report to the nearest DENR office or the official social media page and e-mail address any illegal wildlife activities.

Last year, the DENR Pampanga has also rescued 11 monitor lizards from two illegal wildlife traders in Lubao town.

Since 2015, DENR Region 3 has saved some 300 various wildlife species from illegal trade and filed criminal charges against 20 individuals. (-30-)

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DENR, CDC partner to combat climate change

 

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources Office in Pampanga and Clark Development Corporation (CDC) recently partnered for a tree growing activity at the Boy Scout Jamboree Site in Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga as part of the “green initiative” campaign and in a bid to mitigate the effects of global warming and climate change.

Laudemir Salac, DENR provincial head in Pampanga said DENR Assistant Secretary for Field Operations – Mindanao and Legislative Affairs, Joan Lagunda and CDC President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Manuel R. Gaerlan led the planting of 75 Narra (Pterocarpus indicus) and Molave (Vitex parviflora) seedlings during the event.

“We carefully chose the two native tree species not just for their beauty, but for their resiliency in the urban setting and against an extreme climatic event like global warming” he explained.

According to Gaerlan, the green initiative program is part of the government’s efforts to accelerate and sustain the dream of Clark of becoming a green and sustainable city that is striving to balance ecological, economic, and social needs, to ensure a clean, healthy, and safe environment now and for the generations to come.

Lagunda lauded the CDC and National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP) efforts in making the tree growing activity a reality adding that government partners like CDC and NDCP have been valuable in our country’s reforestation efforts.

“Their spirit of volunteerism may be the key to climate change mitigation and could pave the way for achieving our ‘ambisyon’ of a green and sustainable future.” she added.

Since 2011, more than 122,000 hectares of forest plantations have been established by the DENR in Central Luzon under the National Greening Program (NGP).

In 2020, over 60 private industries, academic institutions, and non-government organizations partnered with DENR in the maintenance and protection of established NGP forest plantations.

Government officials who also actively participated in the event are Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Managing Director Antonio Lambino II, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Assistant Secretary Atty. Omar Alexander Romero, Office of the President (OP) Assistant Secretary Erwin Enad, and NDCP Chief Defense Research Officer, Rostum Bautista. (-30-)

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DENR, PNP boost protection of NGP plantations in Tarlac


The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) here recently forged a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with ten local Philippine National Police (PNP) and the 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Company to further protect and develop the established forest plantations in Tarlac under the National Greening Program (NGP).

According to Celia Esteban, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer (PENRO) in Tarlac, the PNP municipal police station (MPS) in the towns of Anao, Camiling, Mayantoc, Moncada, Paniqui, Pura, Ramos, San Clemente, San Manuel and Sta. Ignacia have committed to continue the protection and development of some 20 hectares NGP plantations found in Sitio Canding and Sitio Libag in Barangay Maasin of San Clemente town in the province.

“After 3 years, the established NGP plantations have no more funds for protection and maintenance. And this is where the local police will enter to adopt these areas which were established by our partner people’s organizations (PO),” she explained.

She said the PNP of the first district of Tarlac will continue the protection and maintenance of the NGP areas to sustain its growth and development.

Under the agreement, the municipal police stations shall act as the overall project manager and provides mobilization of manpower giving consideration to the PO in the area, which they will hire as laborer in activities to be undertaken and pay them in cash.

They shall also shoulder the funding of survey, mapping and planning, produce seedlings for replanting, maintenance and protection of the adopted plantation, and coordinate with the DENR for technical support in the documentation and geo- tagging and inventory of seedlings.

The DENR on the other hand, shall provide technical assistance in the survey, mapping and planning, plantation management, site evaluation, biodiversity conservation, and species selection, and assist the PNP in the documentation of planted trees, which includes, but shall not be limited to geo-tagging, plantation registry and mapping including the conduct of regular monitoring.

For their part, Police Lieutenant Colonel Jovy Arceo, chief of the Camiling MPS vowed to further protect and develop the NGP plantations they adopted to increase forest cover in the province.

Esteban expressed her gratitude to the PNP especially the Kaligtasan Kalikasan (KALIGKASAN) program for their support in the forest protection and greening program of the government.

Since 2011, DENR Region 3 has already established more than 122,000 hectares of forest plantations within degraded watersheds and forestlands in the region. (-30-)

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Sasmuan Pampanga Coastal Wetland is now a Ramsar site

 
 
The Sasmuan Pampanga Coastal Wetland (SPCW) is the latest addition to the Ramsar Site or Wetland of International Importance after it was declared by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) – Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) based in Quezon City and the Ramsar secretariat based in Gland, Switzerland during the celebration of World Wetlands Day on Tuesday.
 
Paquito Moreno, Jr., executive director of DENR in Region 3 said SPCW is the eight Ramsar Site in the country and first in Central Luzon covering more than 3,500 hectares of coastal waters and five barangays in Sasmuan town in Pampanga.
 
“We are honored and fortunate that the annual celebration of World Wetland Day has become more significant and special because the SPCW is now officially declared as “Wetlands of International Importance,” he said.
 
He explained that SPCW met four of the nine criteria of Ramsar Site before it was considered as internationally important.
 
“We met criteria 2 and 3, which means that SPCW supports vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered species or threatened ecological communities, and play a big role in maintaining the biological diversity of a particular biogeographic region,” he said.
 
Moreno added that SPCW also met criteria 5 and 6 indicating that SPCW regularly supports 20,000 or more water birds, and that it provides to 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of water bird.
 
“SPCW is a vital component of our environment and its declaration as Ramsar site is an integral part of our strategies in cleaning and rehabilitating our Manila Bay,” he explained.
 
According to Laudemir Salac, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer (PENRO) in Pampanga, more than 80,000 migratory birds composed of 63 species have been observed in SPCW during the January 2021 Asian Waterbird Census (AWC).
“We really need to protect this important ecosystem because of numerous benefits to our local communities and to our biodiversity,” he said.
 
Moreno expressed his appreciation and gratitude to the local government of Pampanga and Sasmuan for their support in all the DENR programs in Pampanga and appealed to the public for their active collaboration to sustain the development and protection of SPCW.
 
DENR record shows that Chinese egret, Spotted greenshank, Asian dowitcher, Philippine duck, Philippine fred tail, Grey backed-tailor bird are some of the species frequently visiting SPCW.
 
Study of Jansen in 2018 found out that 46% of the water bird species in the Philippines were observed in SPCW.
 
The 405-hectare Sasmuan Bangkung Malapad Critical Habitat and Eacotourism Area (SBMCHEA) is one of the valuable ecosystems found within the SPCW, is an important habitat to migratory birds and mangrove species including the Avicennia rumphiana or locally known as Api-api.
 
SBMCHEA which is part of the large and enclosed sea of Manila Bay, is a mangrove islet in Pasak river that was formed by the volcanic sediments from the Mount Pinatubo’s devastating eruption in 1991.
 
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty which the Philippines is a signatory, provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.
 
The Convention was adopted in the Iranian City of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975, since then almost 90% of UN member states, from all the world’s geographic regions, have acceded to become “Contracting Parties”. (-30-)
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DENR strengthens forest protection in Central Luzon

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) here relaunched on Saturday the anti-illegal logging taskforce in the more than 2,000-hectare Biak na Bato National Park in Dona Remedios Trinidad town in Bulacan to further strengthen the forest protection capability and boost the anti-illegal logging campaign of the government.
 
Edilberto Leonardo, Undersecretary for Special Concerns of the DENR, who spearheaded the event, said the goal of further strengthening the anti-illegal logging campaign is to prevent the actual cutting of trees in the forests and not just apprehend illegal loggers and forest products.
 
“Our trees are important. It provides numerous benefits to human and biodiversity. It acts as natural barriers against disaster and calamities including strong typhoons,” he explained.
 
He said the new approach to forest protection is that the police, military and foresters from the DENR will be deployed in every exit and entry of protected areas and regular patrolling will be conducted to give support in the enforcement of environmental laws.
 
According to Paquito Moreno, Jr., executive director of DENR regional office, forest protection is one of the most challenging activities of the DENR and it takes strong collaboration and partnership with the police and military including the local government units and local communities.
 
“We admit that the DENR cannot win this battle alone. But with the support and cooperation of our law enforcement and civil society, we are more confident now that we can put an end to this vicious cycle of forest degradation,” he said.
 
Moreno also reported that given the limited number of forest rangers patrolling the more than 900,000 hectares forestland of the region, they managed to reduce the illegal logging hotspots from 23 to only four at the moment and have apprehended over 218,000 board feet of illegal lumber worth P10 million last year.
 
The DENR Region 3 has also regularly manned its eight-forest product monitoring station strategically located in Bulacan, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija and Aurora to check movement of forest contraband.
 
Moreno also expressed his appreciation to the police, military, local government units and the civil society for their all-out support in the anti-illegal logging campaign of the DENR.
 
Some 200 seedlings of Narra and Molave were planted also inside the Biak na Bato National Park during the event to provide additional forest cover to the protected area.
 
Section 3 of Executive Order No. 23 series of 2011 provides for the creation of anti-illegal logging task force composed of DENR as chair and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Department of National Defense (DENR), Philippine national police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), as members.
 
The task force is mandated to take the lead in the anti-illegal logging campaign and assist the DENR in the enforcement of other environmental laws. (-30-)
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