NBI drops ivory investigation

CEBU, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)-7 has temporarily terminated its investigation on the alleged ivory trade involving a local church official, but vowed to reopen the case as soon new evidence is found.

Supervising agent Gregorio Algoso, Jr. said they decided to momentarily halt the probe while waiting for major evidence to surface.

"There was really insufficient evidence. The case was closed. The case is temporarily closed due to insufficient evidence. Because if we could gather evidence then we could always reopen this case," he said.

He said they lacked an expert to confirm that the suspected religious icons inside the congregation compound of Monsignor Cristobal "Cris" Garcia in Talisay City were indeed ivory.

"Based on our investigation, of the total collection, I think there were more than 3,000 or 5,000 religious icons, there were only three which we suspected to be containing ivory. Because usually, they will only make an ivory out of the face and the hands of the icon. The rest is made of wood because it will be covered by dresses," Algoso said.

"Based on that, we were in a quandary actually because together with the DENR, when we conducted the inspection, we don't have any expert that could attest that those were really ivory. Although it was admitted by the caretaker that it was made of ivory. But for confirmatory examination, we don't have an expert for that matter," he added.

He said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) promised to provide an expert from the National Museum but it has yet to do so.

DENR-7 Spokesperson Eddie Llamedo referred The FREEMAN to the National Museum on the status the request, adding that he would follow it up, if there was such a request.

A National Geographic article written by Brian Christy in 2012 sparked a controversy after Msgr. Garcia,  then head of the Cebu Archdiocese Committee on Worship, was tagged in the alleged ivory smuggling and trade in the Philippines.

"As to the involvement of Monsignor Garcia, we really could not establish that he is engaged in smuggling. And I even suggested that if we want to go deeper on this, we need to get a sworn statement from the writer of the article, which is unlikely because he is not from the Philippines. And we even made representations, if he is willing to come back here in the Philippines we will take his statement and we will know how he got those information," Algoso said.

He described Msgr. Garcia, who denied involvement in the illegal ivory trade, as "very cooperative" in their investigation. (FREEMAN)