MANILA, Philippines - Environment Secretary Ramon Paje and Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala will spearhead an intensified government drive against massive poaching of corals in the waters around Mindanao.
“We are hoping that under the leadership of the permanent secretary of the environment under Secretary Paje, together with Secretary Pros Alcala... you can be the two lead agencies that can craft a legal framework so that we can stop it (poaching) from the source way up to the last line of defense which is the BoC (Bureau of Customs),” Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said yesterday during a hearing on the smuggling of black corals from Zamboanga City.
Zubiri, chairman of the Senate committee on environment and natural resources, also reiterated his call on President Aquino to form a task force that will coordinate all government efforts in stopping the “rape of the (country’s) oceans” by coral poachers and smugglers.
“We should be sort of mapping on how this can be done. And we need your help, and eventually we’ll have to talk to the President about this, secretary because, for me it’s a national security concern - the loss of tourism, loss of an ability to feed our people,” Zubiri told Paje during the hearing.
The senator expressed alarm over last month’s seizure of two vans containing rare black corals, hawk bills and green sea turtles at Pier 15 at the Port of Manila.
Seized, meanwhile, from a warehouse in Barangay San Roque, Zamboanga were tons of black and red corals, endangered sea shells, and other marine items.
“It seems that those seized in Zamboanga City, what could have been destroyed, it could be as much as 95,000 hectares, an area bigger than Metro Manila. That’s larger than Metro Manila, that is the actual damage done by this corporation,” Zubiri said referring to the Lim and Li Trading.
Paje noted that the seizure of the items did not mean victory for authorities.
“The sad fact though is even if we are 100 percent successful in this effort in the confiscation of this contraband, we are still considered a 100 percent failure in protecting our environment,” Paje said.
“Even if we have confiscated all of these contraband, we cannot return this anymore to the sea and allow them to grow and rehab the decimated marine habitats that they have destroyed. That is the sad part,” Paje added.
Paje said that what is needed is to ensure that sources of the black corals and the sea turtles are protected and the markets eliminated.
“I believe that the collection of the sea shells and black corals is now the new muro-ami. The sad part is I will not be surprised if it’s also using children in extracting this because children particularly in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi are good divers, they can stay under water for more than 20 minutes and it’s more than enough time to extract black corals,” Paje said.
Muro-ami refers to an illegal fishing method wherein swimmers - usually children - bash corals with large rocks suspended from a rope to force fish to come out in the open.
“We will assure you that we will see the end of this. But somehow we have to focus on social fencing. We cannot stop this without the support of the mayors,” he added.
Awakening
Antonio Oposa, president of The Law of the Nature Foundation, said the recent seizures may have also awakened the public to the need for greater effort to protect the environment.
“Maybe it’s good that this happened because it’s an awakening for all of us,” he said.
“But for divers like us, that corals and our natural resources that is beyond economic estimation... that is priceless,” Oposa said.
Gordon Cancio, a licensed diver, told the committee of the need to match efforts to protect the seas with programs aimed at improving the livelihood of communities in affected areas like Jolo and Tawi-Tawi.
“If you can shift the focus from wanton destruction of these items to their preservation for the benefit of tourism, I think this is a good start. It may not be a solution, a final solution but it is a good start,” Cancio said.
Cancio also stressed the need to educate the people in the barangay level on the importance of protecting the environment. He cited the Bantay Dagat initiatives in Anilao, Batangas, and in Apo Reef in Dumaguete City.
He also noted that the police and the military in the affected areas are focused on counter insurgency. Cancio is also a member of the Philippine Marines.
“If you go to some of these places, you can buy pawikan eggs on demand there and have them for breakfast. That’s how loose enforcement is there. Not because the people of the agencies involved are lacking in attention, it’s basically because the focus is on counter insurgency,” he added.
“My perception also is that to stop these people from doing what they are doing, you might just exacerbate the insurgency unless you find an alternative source of livelihood for them,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat stressed during the hearing that individuals caught smuggling black corals be immediately “arrested, charged and be placed behind bars” to send a strong message to violators of the law.
Lobregat noted that while the local government units have jurisdiction over 15-kilometer radius of waters in their localities, they do not have the authority to open container vans which transport poached marine items.
Denial
Also during yesterday’s hearing, Exequiel Navarro, the consignee of the two 20-foot container vans that were carrying the smuggled black corals, denied having knowledge that the cargo shipped under his name was illegal.
“I have nothing to do with it. I have never been to Zamboanga, and I don’t know Li and Lim,” he told the committee in Filipino.
Navarro denied that he knew that the shipment contained 163 stuffed hawkbills and green turtles, 21,169 pieces of black corals, 7,340 pieces of trumpet and helmet shells, and 196 kilograms of sea whips. He maintained that to his knowledge, the shipment was raw rubber as declared in the bill of lading.
But Zubiri warned Navarro that he may be criminally liable for allowing himself to be party to the illegal trade.
“Ignorance of the law does not excuse anyone. The law is there, the law is harsh and it must be implemented. I hope the counsel will explain to the witness that ignorance of the law excuses no one,” Zubiri said.
Zubiri called on the justice department and the BOC to include the JKA Transport which brought the illegal cargo from Zamboanga to Manila - in the filing of criminal charges.
Navarro appeared with a counsel in the committee hearing.
Paje called on Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo to help the DENR in the full implementation of maritime laws. “Because we strongly believe that without the participation or maybe because of the absence of vigilance or participation of the LGU, these things can happen or not happen,” Paje told the committee.
“So this really is a very strong coordination that we ask the LGUs to support us in this regard,” Paje added.
The Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Maritime Group Police admitted before the committee that there are no regular inspections of shipments in the absence of such mandate in their respective charters. He said inspections would have to be cleared with the BOC.
“The mission of the maritime group is actually law enforcement over Philippine waters,” Philippine Maritime Group Police Chief Superintendent Francisco Don Montenegro said.
But Customs Deputy Commissioner Horacio Suansing Jr. said that the bureau may open shipments only when they are tipped off about suspicious cargoes. “We just do that when there are reports in our office,” he said.
In the same hearing, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) director Asis Perez said that they are very careful in ordering the inspection of shipments.
Maritime Industry Authority administrator Emerson Lorenzo said his agency can only implement the regulation against hazardous items. He said MARINA cannot inspect cargoes that have been declared as relatively safe products.
“The jurisdiction of MARINA is more on the operation of the ships,” Lorenzo said.
Shocked
In Zamboanga City, an inventory of the seized items shocked biologists and marine scientists.
The contraband cost more than P35 million.
The Department of Justice and the police have already filed several charges against Li and three others in connection with the smuggling of the prohibited marine products.
“I want to cry. I don’t know if we should feel happy or sad about the seizure,” said Andy Mendito, chief of the Monitoring, Control and Surveillance section of BFAR.
“We are really sad because it represents the scale of destruction of our coral reef,” Mendito added.
Ludivina Labe, senior marine biologist of the BFAR national office, said the discovery showed the extent of the degradation of the marine life. With Roel Pareño