By Jonathan L. Mayuga
Bangkok, Thailand—An American wildlife expert on Tuesday underscored the need for stronger interagency collaboration to effectively combat illegal wildlife trade and other crimes against the environment.
In a chance interview during the Asean Conference on Biodiversity 2016 at the Bangkok Convention Center, George Phocas, senior special agent attaché for Southeast Asia, Department of the Interior, United States Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, said much needs to be done to address the problem on illegal wildlife trade, individually and collectively, by member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
He said, so far, among the countries in Southeast Asia, the Philippines has started to exert such effort with government agencies closely working together to fight environmental crimes.
Phocas also lauded the Philippines for establishing the green courts and designating green prosecutors, which, he said, are indications that the country is serious in prosecuting so-called environmental criminals, even if such policy of interagency collaboration should have been more stronger being declared by the highest official of the land.
The conference, organized by the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), aims to highlight the importance of conservation and address the various threats to biodiversity in the region.
The ACB, through its executive director, Roberto V. Oliva, said in an interview that illegal wildlife trade is one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia.
According to Oliva, the region’s rich biodiversity is seriously threatened by climate change, massive land conversion, habitat destruction caused by illegal-logging activities, and illegal wildlife trade.
Phocas, one of the participants, said the cost of global illegal wildlife trade, not including fisheries and logs, could easily reach up to $10 million annually.
He cited the arrest by authorities of a suspected member of a syndicate engaged in the illegal wildlife trade at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) in Pasay City recently, wherein the attempt to smuggle to Japan several endangered wildlife species was thwarted by authorities.
Such interagency collaboration, he said, should be how all law-enforcement agencies work in combating environmental crimes, particularly wildlife trafficking.
The suspect, Gerard Bravo, a member of the Office of Transport Security of the Department of Transportation and Communications, allegedly acted as middleman for the suppliers and buyers. He allegedly buys the endangered wildlife, hide them inside styrofoam cartons with “Bureau of Plant Industry [BPI]-inspected” stickers to avoid detection, book them and send them out of the country undetected.
Weeks of investigation resulted in the arrest of the suspect, who was caught in the act trying to smuggle 11 tarsiers, 11 monitor lizards, eight sailfin lizards, six watersnakes, six ratsnakes, three scops owls, and two juvenile and one adult Philippine Eagle owls. The rescued wildlife were taken to the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Rescue Center in Quezon City for quarantine and rehabilitation.
Bravo is now facing charges for violation of the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act of the Philippines.
The successful operation was a result of interagency collaboration between the National Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, through the Biodiversity Management Bureau, the Department of Agriculture, through the BPI, and airport authorities, he said.
“The problem is, some law enforcement would stop investigating after making an arrest. Law enforcers should conduct deeper investigator and should not stop investigating until the bigger fishes are caught,” Phocas added.
Those who engaged in the illegal activity, he said, now find Southeast Asian countries an easy target, because law-enforcement agencies in the region are not aggressive enough to catch and make sure that the bad guys stay behind bars.
Illegal wildlife trade in Southeast Asia, Phocas said, became a very lucrative business because organized crime groups would prefer to do business smuggling wildlife than crystal met or shabu, or heroine, because smuggling wildlife is not much in the radar of law enforcement unlike illegal drugs or other “more serious” crimes carrying heavy penalties, such as illegal arms deal or human trafficking.
He maintained that illegal wildlife trafficking is a serious crime because it has leads to dire consequences such as disasters triggered by extreme weather events, economic dislocation of affected sectors particularly incomes and livelihood, hence impacting the national economy.