The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has placed the Clark Freeport Zone under tight watch following the arrest of a Chinese national for allegedly trying to smuggle several Palawan cobras and pangolins.
Environment Regional Director for Central Luzon Francisco E. Milla Jr. has ordered wildlife law enforcers to coordinate with authorities at the Clark Freeport Zone to intensify the campaign in the former US military base in Pampanga, said Don Guevarra, chief of the DENR-3 Regional Public Affairs Office.
“Although it is an isolated case, Milla has ordered to place Clark under close watch,” Guevarra told the BusinessMirror in an interview, adding that this is the first time that authorities arrested a foreigner engaged in illegal wildlife trade at Clark.
Last week with the help of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), authorities arrested a certain Peimin Zhang for possession of four pangolins and three cobras.
A case for alleged violation of Sections 27 and 28 of Republic Act (RA) 9147, also known as the Wildlife Resources Conservation Act, has been filed against Zhang before the Angeles City Prosecutors’ Office, Guevarra said.
The arrest was made on April 28 last month while Zhang was driving on his way out of the Clark Freeport Zone.
Zhang’s car, a Mitsubishi Grandis with plate number ZHG-475 bound to Tarlac, yielded the pangolins and cobras, but only two of the cobras survived before being turned over to the DENR Central Luzon Office, Guevarra added.
Quoting a report from the NBI, the DENR Central Luzon issued a news statement stating Ricardo Diaz, regional director of NBI, received a tip from unidentified informant of the planned transport of wildlife. Acting on the tip, the NBI official immediately coordinated with security police.
The security personnel successfully intercepted the wildlife contraband at the Manuel A. Roxas Avenue-Yokohama intersection where they found a box containing a sack of cobras and pangolins.
Peimin failed to show legal documents that will justify the transport and ownership of the wildlife species.
A verification from the DENR regional office, however, showed that Peimin is not a holder of Certificate of Wildlife Registration, wildlife permit and/or Wildlife Collectors Permit or any other Wildlife Permit.
Wildlife experts from the DENR said pangolin is classified as vulnerable species under the list of terrestrial threatened species stipulated in the DENR Administrative Order 2004-15.
It has become one of the most illegally traded animals in Southeast Asia, with live pangolins fetching up to $1,000 (P46,000) on the black market. Its meat is valued at $300 (P13,800) per kilogram, while its scales are traded at a price of $3,000 (P138,000) per kilogram, according to the DENR Central Luzon.
Citing a report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the DENR Central Luzon revealed that “China has a long history of consuming pangolin as meat and [use] in traditional medicine”
The report added, “Due to continual demand and the decreasing Chinese wild population, in the past few years, pangolin smuggling from Southeast Asia has resulted in great declines in these producing countries’ wild populations, as well.”
“Pangolins are not endemic to Central Luzon and neither are these cobras. It is possible that these animals may have been smuggled from Palawan, where both species are found natively,” explained Fred Sadueste, wildlife enforcement chief of the DENR.
Under the law, collection of wildlife can carry a sentence of imprisonment of six months and one day to one year and a fine of P10,000 to P100,000, if inflicted or undertaken against vulnerable species.
“Pangolins by nature have no teeth, so the law has to have teeth to protect these animals. Rest assured, the DENR will continue to keep constant vigilance and ensure that our Philippine wildlife remain protected and safe,” Milla was quoted in a statement released by the DENR Central Luzon.
He urged the public to report to the nearest DENR office or law-enforcement agency of suspected illegal wildlife trade.