13 Vietnamese turtle poachers convicted, set to be freed

MANILA, Philippines - A Puerto Princesa court sentenced 13 Vietnamese to 18 months in prison and fined each of them from P15,000 to P4.5 million for trying to flee with 101 endangered Hawksbill Turtles near El Nido in northern Palawan in August 2008.

RJ de la Calzada, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) project manager, said the ruling of the Palawan Regional Trial Court could serve as a precedent and a strong warning to poachers from nearby countries.

De la Calzada also serves as Coast Guard auxiliary commander.

However, the convicted poachers would only have to pay the fines because their detention since September 2008 has been counted as prison time served, the court said.

The court issued the order on June 22, 2010.

The WWF lauded the Armed Forces, El Nido municipal government and the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development for pushing the case through.

The Vietnamese vessel F/V Q.ng 91234-TS was stopped by two Joint Task Force Malampaya gunboats five miles east of Cabaluan Island near El Nido on the night of Aug. 29, 2008.

The 13-man crew tried to scuttle the craft by flooding the holds, which was swiftly thwarted.

Found drowned in the vessel’s cargo hold were 101 Hawksbill Turtles, classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as critically endangered.

It is illegal to capture and kill sea turtles and to trade in turtle byproducts.

The presence of sea turtles preserves the sea’s natural processes.

Green Sea Turtles continually browse on sea grass, which are naturally pruned to grow denser, allowing the plants to spread more rapidly on the sea floor.

Thousands of species of fish and invertebrates seek shelter within these submerged meadows, which also serve to store excess atmospheric carbon dioxide to retard global warming.

Hawksbill Turtles eat stinging jellyfish, preventing climate-induced blooms which would negatively affect tourism. The arrest of the 13 Vietnamese was one of the largest illegal wildlife hauls in 2008.

Over a thousand foreigners have been arrested and charged for poaching in waters of Palawan, according to WWF.

Over 660 poachers were Chinese.

The Navy nabbed the Vietnamese after firing warning shots during a 30-minute sea chase.