CEBU, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs yesterday said there is no ivory smuggling in Cebu. But the BOC is now on alert following reports on the smuggling of elephant tusks into the country.
“Dito sa Cebu, walang ivory smuggling. But we are not complacent. Kaya on alert lahat ngayon ang airport and seaports,” BOC district collector Ronnie Silvestre told The FREEMAN last night.
Silvestre said he already issued instructions to his personnel to be on alert against ivory smuggling.
He recalled that in 2006, Customs personnel in Manila apprehended more than 200 elephant tusks from Africa.
While the shipment was under seizure proceedings, it was lost in a warehouse where it was stored, he said. A raid on a house led to the recovery of the ivory shipment.
The BOC then turned it over to Department of Environment and Natural Resources for custody, but it was lost again. The DENR custodian remained at large.
“Diyan mo makikita that there is a syndicate of ivory smuggling. Kasi kahit nasa government custody na, mawawala pa rin,” Silvestre said.
Silvestre assured that smuggled ivory products do not enter the Philippines through Cebu.
“I assure you there is no smuggling of ivory tusks in Cebu. I assure you it’s not here. It’s possible these products go to Manila because the artisans are there,” Silvestre told The Philippine Star.
Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon said there are other possible entry points because of the country’s porous borders.
Biazon said there are not enough Customs officials to man the country’s backdoors such as Mindanao.
But he is keeping a close watch on the smuggling of ivory tusks or ivory products in the country.
Coordination
The DENR-7 has started coordinating with the National Museum as it does not have the capability to determine old ivory pieces.
“We have started the coordination with the National Museum as DENR does not have the capability or competence in qualifying these pieces as antique or not,” said DENR-7 executive director Isabelo R. Montejo.
The DENR-7 is also conducting investigation into the reported smuggling of elephant tusks and ivory products.
Montejo said the investigation will focus on individuals or shops holding possessions of these items in Bohol, Negros Oriental, Siquijor and Cebu.
Montejo added part of the investigation is an inventory of items made of ivory displayed in shops and malls.
A team from Protected Area and Wildlife Bureau led by DENR Undersecretary for Staff Bureaus Ernesto D. Adobo Jr. was also here to look into the matter.
As of yesterday, DENR-7 provided no details about Adobo’s visit.
It was in 1981 that the Philippines became a party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The international agreement ensures the international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.
Last Friday, DENR personnel looking for religious statues made from “blood” ivory were prevented from entering a church where the banned items were allegedly kept.
A joint team from the DENR and National Bureau of Investigation were denied entry to the Shrine of the Black Nazarene in Talisay City.
Security guards at the shrine told investigators they would have to speak to the priest’s lawyers first, said DENR-7 spokesman Eddie Llamedo.
He conceded the team did not have a search warrant at the time and would have to obtain the proper legal papers, possibly giving suspects time to conceal any ivory items.
Asked about the incident, Cebu archdiocese spokesman Monsignor Achilles Dakay said “the lawyers are taking care of that. We will be cooperating (with authorities) but we have church lawyers.”
The shrine is maintained by Monsignor Cristobal Garcia, a priest named in a National Geographic article as giving advice on how to smuggle ivory and naming carvers who would turn it into statues.
The article has touched off a nationwide investigation into the smuggling of ivory, and particularly its use in making religious statues in this largely Roman Catholic country.
Authorities on Friday said they had launched a nationwide investigation into Catholic devotees collecting religious figures made of ivory smuggled from Africa.
The probe, initially focused primarily on Garcia, has become an investigation into other owners of ivory figures, amid concerns the trade is extensive, said NBI’s environment division Sixto Comia.
After the National Geographic article was published, the Catholic Church revealed Garcia had been suspended in June after the Vatican began an investigation into allegations he sexually abused children three decades ago.
Garcia, who himself is known to have a large collection of ivory statues, has been sick and confined to a hospital, keeping him out of the public eye.
Catholic statues have for centuries been made with ivory, but the church now officially condemns the practice in a bid to prevent the slaughter of elephants for their tusks.
Importing ivory has been banned in the Philippines since 1981. The maximum penalty for possessing illegal ivory is four years in jail. —LPM (FREEMAN)